my s.c.o.b.y.

What you see here is my SCOBY after about six months. I gave half of it to a friend a few months ago and discarded the oldest layers last month, so it's probably 1/4 the size it would be had I left it to its own devices.

This batch is being brewed with black tea.

After experimenting with green and black tea, I prefer the milder taste of green tea kombucha. I don't use boiling water when making green tea; I add the tea bags to the water once it has cooled to about 170°F. Then I brew it for only 3 minutes. With black tea, I use boiling water and brew for 3-5 minutes.

After testing out various flavors for the second fermentation, I've decided that citrus fruits make the best homemade kombucha. Spices are also nice: my last batch was fermented with a cinnamon stick and cardamom pods. It was a little too strong, and now I'm thinking some fresh squeezed orange juice would have made it better.

Ratios I use for first fermentation:

8 cups tea (green or black only)
1/2 cup sugar (granulated or powdered white, depending on what I have)
Scoby

Let the sweetened tea cool to room temp before pouring it over the scoby. 

For the second fermentation (after the kombucha tastes tangy and only slightly sweet... length of time depends on temperature in my kitchen, i.e. faster in the summer):

I fill a one-liter Airtight Glass Bottle 3/4 of the way with kombucha. Then I add freshly squeezed juice, chopped fruit, or spices...cap it, and let it sit undisturbed for a few days. 

When I first started brewing, I'd get a good fizz going (at least when I first opened the bottles), but this no longer happens. It may be the cold kitchen. 

Happy brewing!

kombucha

batch #4 - mango kombucha

A few weeks ago, I started making kombucha at home after finding instructions on foodrenegade.com (which has become one of my favorite sites recently). I remember my sister telling me about the first time she and her husband tried kombucha - they both took a sip and instantly and violently spit it out. I will admit that the first time I tasted it, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I immediately connected the smell and taste to vinegar, but was won over by the subtle sweetness and tingly fizz. At first, I tried a variety of brands but quickly learned that I prefer ones that don't leave (or add after brewing?) a lot of sugar.

I'm learning that the beauty of some living foods (I'm thinking yogurt) includes the ability to recreate them at home using a bit of store bought product to get started.  So, I grew my own SCOBY using a bottle of GT's Original Organic Raw Kombucha. My recent foray into the realm of probiotics has also involved making my own yogurt and water kefir, and there are two bottles of probiotic ginger beer fermenting on the counter as I type this. 


For the kombucha, the only additional things I needed after GT's original were a glass bowl, sweetened green tea, and a kitchen towel, all of which I already had. We went on our trip to Kentucky a few days after I put the bowl in a warm corner, and when we got back, the SCOBY was nearly ready to use.


The first batch, flavored with fresh peach juice, was too tart and syrupy for our tastes, so it's still sitting in the fridge waiting to be used in a salad dressing or something.  Batch #2 was a great success and include the juice of one orange. The third batch was the best, with a mix of grapefruit (suggested by my sister who's on "The Paleo Diet" after doing the 4-hour body diet for about a year) and orange. It was so good that we drank it in just a little over one day.

For batch #4, I shredded some mango with my new (and much needed!) grater. Hopefully it will be at least as good as GT's mango, even though I didn't use juice.

      These bottles have been awesome for amping up the fizz.