I developed a kombucha habit a few years ago. I had heard you could brew it at home, but was always intimidated by the idea of needing a sterile environment. Once I was up to a pint a day, the cost became ridiculous and I had to try doing it myself. Thankfully, it is not difficult at all for anyone capable of making tea.
Here's how I do it:
Supplies (always organic when possible)
tea (black, green, or white, preferrable loose-leaf, NOT decaf or herbal or flavored)
sugar
pint glass or large glass measuring cup
large wide mouth jars (half gallon canning jars are perfect)
strainer for loose tea
paper towels
kombucha culture
starter kombucha to pour over fresh batch (about 1/4-1/2 cup)
for bottling: cork top glass bottles (such as rinsed out liquor bottles) or plastic bottles, or glass drink containers. NO METAL - it interacts with the fermented tea and leaches stuff.
Directions for One Gallon
(note - this is my method, not the only method. feel free to watch you-tube videos for slight variations)
Begin with clean hands, clean counters, clean supplies, and preferably a clean kitchen towel to wipe your hands as you work. No need to be sterile, just be clean - like when you're cooking dinner for fancy guests.
I have a small plate to rest my culture on, ready to go, and all my jars and bottles ready. Typically, I bottle whatever has been brewing, then make a new batch. But we'll start with brewing then go to bottling, since that will be the order your first time.
Pour about 1/4 to 1/2 cup loose tea into a pint glass or measuring cup. I have no idea how many bags that would be. No need to measure - just eye it - one quarter of the glass should be full of tea. Pour just-boiling water to fill the glass. It can sit for anywhere from 5-20 minutes, I have not seen a big difference in outcome.
Measure 1 cup of sugar into one of the canning jars. Using some sort of strainer, pour the tea into the jar with the sugar. Swirl or stir to combine - you may need a bit more warm water to dissolve all the sugar. Divide tea between jars equally, then fill to near the top of the jar with cold water - you need to leave room for the culture and starter kombucha.
Add one culture to each jar (if you only have one culture and two jars, simply cut the culture in half, or into however many pieces you need). Top each jar with a generous splash (at least 1/4 cup) of starter kombucha - this acidifies the top of the tea and inhibits mold growth, so don't forget this step. You could use any bottle of plain non-flavored raw kombucha at room temperature for this. Don't use raw apple cider vinegar, it's a different culture.
To make a larger batch (sometimes I make two gallons - 4 jars - at once), simply double the recipe. You need one cup of sugar per gallon of tea.
NEVER add culture to hot tea - this kills the culture and makes it unusable. That's why I make strong tea and then dilute with cold water - no need to wait for a giant jar to cool.
To finish, dry edges of jars with clean towel, top with squares of paper towels and screw canning rings on (or use rubber bands on non-canning jars). This lets air in but keeps flies and their eggs out. It needs to breathe - it's a living organism.
Sit jars out of the way in your kitchen - it doesn't need to be dark or warm or cold or anything special. Mine just sit on the counter, out of the way. Ferment the tea for anywhere from 10 days (if it's fairly warm in the room) up to 2, or even 3 weeks (if it's cold or if you like really sour kombucha!). You can't overdo it, you'll just get really sour tea, which you can sweeten with juice or honey.
To test the flavor, tuck a straw under the culture that grows on top, snag a straw-ful and take a sip. It's done whenever you like it. The longer it sits, the more of the sugar gets eaten up by the yeasts. It's probiotic way before it's sour, so drink it when it tastes good to you.
To bottle, I often like to add a hint of juice - maybe 2 oz - to the bottle before the kombucha (I'm using elderberry lately for immune strengthening) or freeze-dried raspberries, then I pour the kombucha into the bottles through a funnel (it'll fizz up, so go slow) and set on the counter for second fermentation. It's ready to drink and you can put it in the fridge, but that stops the fermentation. I like it to get really fizzy (hence the cork top - i ferment it until it pops the top off, and if it didn't have a top to pop i might have exploding bottles) so I leave mine on the counter for several days. The juice I add gives the yeasts (btw, these are beneficial yeasts, not the kind that lead to candida imbalances) sugar to eat and create more carbonation.
Drink anytime, with or without food. Some people say to go slow, but I've never experienced having too much, even at 3 or 4 pints in a day. If you drink a big gulp first thing in the morning it helps build the good bacteria in your gut without any food getting in the way. I drink it throughout the day, and my 2 year old drinks it, too.
I have 3 gallons continuously brewing. Since each jar grows a new culture (called a "mother" or SCOBY) each time, I keep a jar to store them in, which is also a place to store starter kombucha in case you need to restart.
A few tips and hints:
- the culture may sink or swim when you dump it in the fresh tea, or it may sink or float up slowly as it ferments. this doesn't matter at all and means nothing.
- if you have to reach into the fermented tea, take your rings off (and obviously your hands are clean already). Not only does metal interact but rings harbor bacteria.
- the type of sugar you use is not terribly important. keep it simple - organic white sugar. or rapadura, or whatever is least processed. Organic cane sugar is important to make sure it's not GMO beet sugar, or filled with pesticides or chemicals. Feel free to experiment with honey or maple syrup, but white sugar is much more cost effective.
- the caffeine is food for the bacteria, and they eat it up so kombucha is a decaffeinated tea.
- SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeasts. the kombucha mushroom is not a mushroom, it just looks a little like one. it's a culture. Bacteria feed off the tea and breathe air. Yeasts feed off the sugar, regardless of whether they have air, which is why they keep working once the kombucha is bottled, as long as it isn't chilled.
- If you ever see green or black fuzzy mold on top of a culture, through the entire thing out - that's mold you don't want to mess with. The brown slimy strings hanging from the bottom of the culture are yeasts and they're fine.The bottles in second fermentation will grow little cultures on top - feel free to drink them. Some people find their texture unappealing.
- Leave your jar of SCOBYs on the counter, not in the fridge, or they will go dormant. As long as they are happily swimming in tea, leave them on the counter. Make sure the container breathes.
- Share your SCOBYs with your friends. You can make a new one anytime.
