Today we’re talking how to make kombucha! Why pay $6 for a small bottle of fermented goodness at the store when you can make an entire gallon for way less than that??
I have a very low threshold of ongoing kitchen commitments I can keep. I can’t keep a sourdough starter alive, friendship bread was too much, and kefir required far too frequent activity. But homemade kombucha is perfect in its flexibility, cost, frequency, and “hands on” time.
How is kombucha made?
Kombucha is simply a brewed tea and sugar mixture that has gone through both a yeast fermentation and a bacterial fermentation using a “scoby” (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). It’s basically sweet tea + science!
Over the course of time (from a week to a month, depending on scoby strength), the process eats up the sugar and transforms it into carbon dioxide, producing a tangy (or sometimes vinegar-y), slightly fizzy beverage. The fermentation is supposed to be good for gut health, and vitamin B for energy.
What most people don’t know is that it is SO easy to make yourself at home! It’s honestly hard to mess up. I constantly worry my scoby has gone bad, or that I’ve done something wrong. And basically…I haven’t. I’ve used the same scoby “parent” for 10-15 years with no issues. It’s incredibly forgiving.
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Making homemade kombucha is super easy, but does require you to have a few ingredients and tools on hand. And you’ll want to make sure they’re high-quality:
- First, you need a starter scoby (I got mine from a friend, but you can buy them online too)
- Organic non-GMO cane sugar (yes, organic & non-GMO is important)
- Organic black tea (I also add in some organic green tea)
- A gallon jar with a wide mouth (or similar GLASS container)
- Clean tea towels (cheesecloth or muslin type) & a large rubber band (or I use a stretched-out hair tie)
- Jars that seal well (for holding your kombucha once it’s ready to drink)
I make a gallon at a time, so that’s what the amounts below will make, but it’s easily scalable up or down. You don’t want metal to interact with your kombucha at any time, so I get the plastic mason jar lids so I can wash them easier and not worry about rust.
That list may seem like a lot to start with, but you don’t have to replenish it that often.