Kombucha

Many people have joined the craze of kombucha.  But for others it is a complete mystery.  So exactly what is kombucha?  Simply it is a fermented beverage made from tea, sugar, and a SCOBY.  A SCOBY is not actually a mushroom but you may hear it referred to as such.  It starts to resemble the top of a mushroom with thin tendrils growing on the bottom of it.  It basically is a life form made up of yeasts and bacteria (the good kinds)- one that needs to be fed (with sugar) and has to be kept in liquid to survive.  Typically people use black tea to brew and add sugar to and then add in the SCOBY and some previous kombucha.  It definitely has an acquired taste - tart and bubbly.  One can add different fruits to the final product and ferment it a bit further to get a flavored kombucha.  Our favorite is strawberry!

Now there are quite a few articles out there regarding the safety of brewing your own kombucha.  If the balance of yeasts to good bacteria is off or if your SCOBY "catches" a bad yeast like candida, then things can go bad for your SCOBY and for your health.  With that said, kombucha has been around for thousands of years and before the recent craze, has been brewed in private homes all these thousands of years.  So I post my recipes with a typical disclaimer - brew at your own risk.  I have been making kombucha on and off for the last 3 years and we have all drank it without any issues.  I even would bring in some to work - no one got sick.  One particular person loved my strawberry kombucha so much he asked for his own jar each week - said it made him feel great.

The bottom line when it comes to kombucha is most of the evidence of both good and bad stories are anecdotal and since each SCOBY and batch of kombucha will vary, I highly doubt any specific research study will be coming out soon.  You can buy it at the store for $3-$4 per 16 oz bottle or make it yourself for less than half the price.  Let's break it down:

Organic Newman's Own Black Tea on Amazon - 4 cents per tea bag - 8 bags needed for 1 gallon of kombucha = $ 0.32

Organic Sugar (various kinds) on Amazon for average of $2.15 per cup (1 cup needed for 1 gallon kombucha) OR Domino sugar on Amazon for approx 80 cents per cup.

Basically $2.47 for all organic kombucha or $1.12 for 50% organic.  I'm sure the cost would be even less for non-organic black tea.

What does that compute to?  Well let's take the average price for a 16 oz bottle of kombucha at the store $3.29.  Every so often it is on sale for $2.79 here in Kentucky but in NY it was closer to $4.  So for ease of the weak minded in math I will stick to the average $3.29.

There are 16 cups in a gallon (typically brewing amount for kombucha).  There are 2 cups in a typical bottle of kombucha at the store.....

     * Home made total: $2.47 for one organic gallon (not including fruit - with organic strawberries for example would add approx $4 to my total so $6.47 for 1 gallon strawberry kombucha)

     * Store bought total: $26.32 for 1 gallon of kombucha (8 bottles would make 16 cups or 1 gallon and 8 x $3.29 = $26.32

Now the difference is quite alarming - price will go up for homemade though if you choose to use bottled water.  Here at home we use tap water run through the Brita filter so my cost might be an additional 20 or 30 cents per gallon more.

Either way for us we definitely go through more than a gallon per week of kombucha.  So we save a minimum of $20 per week.

Now how do you even start?  There are a variety of websites to show you how to make your own SCOBY, how to brew your own kombucha, and even where to buy a SCOBY if you didn't want to wait for yours to develop (2-4 weeks).  Personally I felt it was important to make my own SCOBY.  It would be with me for decades to come and I could pass on "baby" SCOBYs to my kids if they chose to make their own once they are older.

Here is what you need to make your own:

7 cups water (preferably filtered)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 bags black tea
1 cup unflavored kombucha (hard to find in stores, but GT raw trilogy flavor is what I used - if you are going to use store kombucha, make sure it is RAW - pasteurized kombucha will not have micro particles of SCOBY in it and therefore you will not grow a SCOBY).

Bring water to a boil and then remove from heat.  Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.  Add the tea bags and let steep until room temperature.  Combine tea and kombucha in large glass jar (1/2 gallon mason jars are the perfect size and easy to sterilize in the oven for 10-15 minutes on 225 degrees - make sure you let cool before adding tea and kombucha!  I just started my water and started the sterilizing all at the same time - while the tea was cooling, so was the glass jar).  You do not necessarily have to sterilize the jar, however being a nurse, I'm pretty against nasty bugs and prefer to sterilize any jar used in fermentation.  Anyhow, stir the tea and store kombucha together and then place a few layers of cheesecloth over the top (do not seal with a lid!).  Keep away from sunlight - a dark towel wrapped around the jar is a good option.

Initially it will look as if nothing is going on.  But in a few days you will notice bubbles collect at the surface.  Those bubbles eventually start to develop a thin film.  When the film is 1/4 inch thick, the SCOBY is ready to use.

Now my new SCOBYs I just made are not 1/4 inch thick yet, however I wanted to get them going so I started using them anyway and may well have to discard my first 2 gallons of kombucha.  But here in Kentucky we are not getting out of the 30's most days and the colder it is the harder it will be to get the SCOBY to grow.  When I was in NY, I made my very first SCOBY during the winter as well and it took 4 weeks to get just under 1/4 inch thick.

Here are some pictures:

Here is a peak into my growing SCOBYs (I am making 2 at one time).  This is about 1.5 weeks into making them.  

Here are my 2 gallon size jars with tea getting ready to receive the SCOBYs for fermentation.

Transferring the SCOBY to the gallon jar - here you can see my SCOBY is thin but still able to work with it.  

My SCOBY looks awfully discolored - but that is from the tea over it - not from the SCOBY itself.  

Now what do you do once your SCOBY is at it's functioning capacity?  First off you discard the tea mixture it was growing in - it will smell like vinegar at this point.  But before you discard it, get your batch ready for your very first kombucha!  It is very similar to what you did for the SCOBY making:

3.5 quarts water

1 cup sugar

8 black tea bags

2 cups starter tea (when you are in your 2nd batch and on, take out 2 cups before flavoring your tea to be used for the next batch - however in this case of our first batch I used the same trilogy GT raw kombucha from the store)

1 SCOBY

Bring the water to a boil - remove from heat and add the sugar - stir until dissolved.  Add tea bags and let steep until cool.  Once cooled, add tea and starter tea (or store kombucha) to clean gallon jar. With clean hands, transfer SCOBY to new batch - cover with cheesecloth and keep out of sunlight.  Ferment for 7-10 days.  After 7 days start to taste the tea - it should be an equal balance of sweet and tart.  Remove 2 cups for next batch and place SCOBY in that while preparing next batch.  Take kombucha and place into bottles (I use mason jars).  Add fruit if preferred for flavor and seal - keep out on counter for 1-3 days (I will "burp" mine so mine do not overcarbonate),  Just do not forget about your bottles!  If they build up too much carbonation they can burst.  After I had read about that I made sure to just open my lids twice a day to let some of the built up air escape.  This made my kombucha not as fizzy as store bought but in the end we all preferred it that way.  

So there you have it!  In about 4-6 weeks you can be enjoying your own homemade brews as well!  Play around with different fruits.  Another favorite of ours was pineapple and apple/cinnamon!  Just make sure to keep your fruit completely submerged or mold will develop.