Our first attempt at making Kombucha

We like to try a lot of new things around here.  I've been hearing for years about kombucha and have wanted to try brewing it for a while.  We were standing on the banks of the Atchafalaya River outside of Melville at our friend's home, when she said, "Hey, I just brewed a batch of kombucha.  Wanna try some?"  She brought out three cups of kombucha tea and we enjoyed it immensely and I knew immediately that we just HAD to try our hand at making some ourselves.  I can't tell you how good this stuff is.

Kombucha is a fizzy beverage made by fermenting tea using a SCOBY.  SCOBY is an acronym that stands for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast.  According to Wikipedia, people think that the word kombucha came from a Japanese beverage made from kelp or kombu.  The actual kombucha tea is different and both the Japanese and Chinese translate it literally to "Red Tea Mushroom." Historians believe kombucha originated in China before moving to Russian and eventually Europe.

Regardless, it is a delicious effervescent beverage.  There are many reasons to drink it for health.  It provides detoxifying enzymes and acids that help your liver.  It is made with a living colony of bacteria and yeast, so it is a probiotic that helps in digestion.  There are many other healthy reasons to drink it.  There's also the taste. It is delicious!

So we ordered a SCOBY from Azure Standard, a Co-Op that we belong to and it arrived in the box below.  I like the fact that the label said Kombucha Brewing Made Easy.  I'm always a little concerned when we try something new and I don't want to mess it up.  The fact that it is easy is a big plus in my book.

Kombucha Starter Kit Arrives

The kit came with the SCOBY floating in the starter liquid, some oolong tea, organic evaporated cane juice sugar, and detailed instructions.

The Unpackaging

Get a gallon of filtered water boiling on the stove top.

Then put the oolong tea in the boiling water and allow to steep for 20 minutes.

Then pour the cup of sugar into the tea and allow to dissolve.

Allow the tea to fully cool.  Once room temperature, pour the tea into a clean gallon jar.  Up to this point, we just made regular tea that you might enjoy on the back porch on a nice day.  Now, we're gonna throw a twist to it.  Add the SCOBY and starter liquid in the bag into the gallon jar full of tea.

Pouring in the SCOBY or Mother

The SCOBY is also called the mother because it produces new colonies.  It is not pretty.  In fact, I think Tricia and Benjamin said it looks like a jellyfish floating in the tea. I'll admit, it is not very appetizing at this point and I'm wondering if this is going to be drinkable.  

"Waiter, there's a jellyfish in my iced tea!"

Fortunately, we don't drink it now.  You cover it with a paper towel or cloth and put a rubber band around it so that bugs, dust, critters don't get into it.  It is alive and needs to "breathe."  

Now you wait...

Now we put it aside, away from sunlight and in an area where the temperature is 75 degrees. We found a spot in our utility room on top of a cabinet that met that criteria.  We placed it up there and allowed it to ferment for 10 days.  The longer you leave it, the more "tangy" it gets.

We watched the youtube video below to help us learn how to make it.  Again, I wanted to be very careful our first time to do this.  The video is by Cultures for Health and they have all sorts of starters and supplies to help you get started making kombucha, kefir, cheese, yogurt, etc.  If you're interested, click the arrow to watch a good instructional video:

This will be a two-part series.  In the next installment, we'll show you what we did after the tea fermented for 10 days.  Hint: We flavored it with an interesting blend of flavor enhancements.