Today I’ve planned on sharing one of my favourite fermented beverages; kombucha.
I’ve written about my kombucha obsession earlier (in Norwegian) and how to make your own home brewn kombucha. HERE
Now I decided I wanted to write about kombucha in English as well because everybody deserve to know about this awesome, easily made, affordable (almost free), healthy beverage.
I always have a big jar with kombucha fermenting in my kitchen.
What Is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a widely known and loved probiotic beverage. It’s actually as easily explained as fermented sweet tea that’s filled with probiotics and a lot of other beneficial properties. Promoterer gut health and wellbeing.
You’ve probably seen bottles of Kombucha at your local health food store or even the supermarket. (High priced beverage you can make almost for free at home)
Kombucha have been a big hype amongst health- and eco – people for a while but it’s no new fashion at all!
The origin of Kombucha is a good guess at best. Some sources say it hails from Russia; others claim ancient China as its birthplace. In fact, in China, it was known as the “Immortal Health Elixir” amongst the monks and later on people in general. It’s been around for several thousand years and have been known to bring overall health.
No matter where it’s from, it’s one of the most healthy, easily made fermented beverages.
Made with tea, water, a whole sweetener (not artificial sweeteners!), finished Kombucha, and a Kombucha SCOBY (the mother culture; a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts), it’s both sweet and sour. Through the miracle of fermentation, sweet tea becomes a beverage that’s loaded with…
• B vitamins
• enzymes
• probiotics
• antioxidants
• beneficial acids, like acetic acid and glucaronic acid
It’s also naturally fizzy, thanks to the carbon dioxide that the bacteria and yeasts let off as they “eat” the sweetener. Because the SCOBY need food in order to turn sweet tea into Kombucha, the sugar/sweetener is absolutely necessary.
But, don’t worry… Kombucha has very little (if any) sugar left once it’s finished brewing. And, the longer you let it ferment, the more sour (less sugar) it becomes.
Kombucha tastes delicious, it is also a traditional superfood and everyday never with benefits like…
• improving digestion
• repopulating the gut with healthy bacteria and yeasts
• strengthening the immune system
• reducing oxidative stress on cells
• improving liver detox
• satisfying cravings for carbonated beverages
What’s needed to brew kombucha ?
Now you know a little bit what kombucha is all about you might want to brew your own.
Brewing your own kombucha is actually quite simple. All you need is tea, sugar, a scoby and a little bit of ready made (fermented) kombucha.
Tea:
I recommend you start off with plain, natural, organic black tea.
It’s important the tea doesn’t contain pieces of fruits or artificial fragrances or taste – this will ruin the kombucha and possibly make it go bad or grow mold.
You can add taste and pieces of fruits and berries in the second fermentation, but for now: go for plain, organic tea.
Here are some other lovely teas to try:
• Green tea
• White tea
• Oolong tea
• Jasmine tea
• White tea
• Yerba Mate tea
• Rooibos tea
• Natural Turmeric and/or ginger tea
Then you need
Sweetener:
As sweetener the easiest and most common to use is organic raw cane sugar. You can use light brown organic sugar or honey as well.
Later on you can experiment with coconut sugar, palm sugar, maple syrup or other sweeteners.
The sweetener is a vital ingredient in the fermentation process.
Scoby and kombucha starter
It’s wonderful (and the least expensive option) if you can get a SCOBY and starter Kombucha from a friend.
I got mine from some wonderful German friends. 😘
You’ll need a scoby or piece of a scoby and about 200ml of ready made kombucha (starter).
If you don’t know anybody who wants to share a scoby most local areas have Facebook pages that are in to fermentation – I recommend you ask some if you can get started with your kombucha and I guess they’ll gladly help. (Kombucha drinkers are nice people 😉😁)
A large glass jar and glass bottles:
As brewing container you will need a large glass jar, bowl, large canister, or other vessel, make sure to use glass or lead-free porcelain — not plastic!
I always use large glass jars covered with a cotton cloth to let the fermentation process “breath”. You can use a coffee filter and rubber band to cover the top of the jar as well.
It might be a great idea to add a tag with the date you started the brewing process to make it easier to keep track of it.
You’ll need glass bottles with swing top. I use old beer or soft drink bottles with porcelain lid/top.
How to brew Kombucha?
Now – finally – on to the real brewing.
This is simple!
You have your scoby and starter in a glass jar or bowl. The look of the scoby may vary, depending on where it’s from and what kind of tea it’s used with. It should smell fresh, slightly vinegarish.
Start with brewing 2 litre (2000 ml) of black tea. If you use teabags you can use aprx 4 teabags.
Brew the tea as normal. Take away the teabags after 3-5 minuets. Add sweetener.
For 2 litre of tea you’ll need 200-250ml sugar
Let the sweet tea cool down completely!!
If the scoby comes into too warm liquid (more than 39 degrees Celsius it will stop working and the bacteria and yeast will die)
Add the sweet tea to your brewing container and add the scoby and starter.
Cover the jar with a clean cloth attached with a rubber band and let the jar sit quietly in a dark place with room temperature. (A cupboard is good)
The first fermentation will take 7-10 days (depending on the temperature).
You’ll see a nice new scoby are now covering the top of the kombucha.
You can use this new scoby baby for your next brew (now you have two working scobys) – or you can give it to a friend who’ll love to make kombucha as well.
Now take 200 ml of the ready made kombucha in a bowl and add the two scobys.
Add the rest of the kombucha to clean glass bottles.
I use old beer bottles or soft drink bottles with porcelain lid. They need to be airtight to make the kombucha fizzy.
Let the bottles sit on your kitchen counter for about 1-3 days for a second fermentation. You’ll now have a fizzy beverage.
Store your kombucha in the fridge.
Add taste to the kombucha
In fact, you can use just about anything to infuse your home brew with wonderful flavors.
• fresh fruit or berries
• frozen fruit : berries
• dried fruit — like apricots, figs, raisins, mangoes, and apples
• freeze-dried fruit
• fresh rhizomes, like ginger and turmeric
• dried spices, like ground cinnamon and cloves
To bottle (aka second ferment) Kombucha, all you need are glass swing top bottles and fruits and/or spices of choice.
Simply place 6 to 10 pieces of cut up, dried fruit (or about 1/4 cup fresh or frozen) into the bottoms of the glass bottles. Then, fill with finished Kombucha, close, and set in a warm place for 1 to 3 days.
Some people prefer to drain away the fruits/ spices before storing the kombucha in the fridge. Other prefer to keep the fruit / spices and just store the bottles in the fridge.
How to use Kombucha ?
Kombucha is the perfect drink to start your day, for lunch, for dinner or just as a refreshment.
You can use it in so many other ways too!!
Like in
• homemade popsicles
• in smoothie
• in juice
• too sour (vinegary) kombucha with olive oil and herbs as salad dressing.
• as fertiliser for your house plants
And so much more ….
Hope you feel inspired ti start Your kombucha-journey or re-discover old kombucha habits.
Have a wonderful day!
And pleeeease let me know your favourite flavour of kombucha or let me know if you live in Oslo and want to get started. I’ll love to share a scoby. 😊
Love
Gudrun
💕
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