Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Bring enough water to brew a strong batch of tea in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the tea bags (or loose leaf tea) and dissolve the raw sugar while the tea is still hot.
- Allow the tea to cool completely before removing the tea bags or straining the leaves.
- Pour the cooled tea into a clean 3-4L glass fermentation jar.
- If needed, top the jar up with cool water until nearly full. The tea should be concentrated enough that this won’t weaken the brew.
- Add the mature kombucha (starter tea) and gently place the SCOBY into the jar and stir.If you don’t have a SCOBY that’s okay as long as you have a good amount of starter tea the brew will make a new SCOBY.
- Cover with a clean cloth and secure with a rubber band.
- Leave somewhere warm, out of direct sunlight, for 7–14 days.
- Taste every day or two after about a week until the kombucha reaches your preferred balance of sweetness and tang.
- Bottle the kombucha or continue with a second ferment for natural carbonation and flavouring.
Notes
Notes
- Always allow the tea to cool completely before adding the SCOBY.
- Save at least one cup of kombucha from every batch as starter tea for the next brew.
- Raw sugar is preferred, but white sugar also works well.
- Black tea, green tea or a mixture of both produce the best results.
- If your kombucha becomes too vinegary, it makes excellent starter tea for future batches.
- A healthy SCOBY may float, sink or sit sideways, this is completely normal.
- Every batch usually grows a new SCOBY that can be shared, composted or added to a SCOBY hotel.