Recipe: How to Make Homemade Kombucha

As you may know by now, I'm a big fan of fermented foods, and I regularly experiment with interesting new fermentation methods. One fermented food that I have yet to try making myself is kombucha.

Kombucha is a fizzy, fermented tea drink that has gone mainstream in recent years, and you can now find it in the refrigerated section of not just health food stores, but even big supermarket chains. However, the kombucha you buy in stores is, of course, a far cry from what you can make at home. Some storebought kombucha contains artificial ingredients such as colorings or flavorings, and of course, most contains lots of sugar.

However, homemade kombucha can be a delicious and nutritious drink, and it's a great way to get more fermented foods into your diet for their healthy benefits.

From what I have read, kombucha is also really easy to make, so I'm looking forward to trying it! The recipe below demonstrates how easy it is to make your own homemade kombucha.

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I found this recipe just the other day, and the only reason I haven't tried making it yet is that we are going on vacation soon, so I wanted to wait until I will be home to watch it. Plus, I haven't gotten a SCOBY yet, but amazingly enough, I just met someone this weekend who makes her own kombucha, and offered to give me one - so I'll be all set for brewing when we get back from our trip!

To make your own kombucha, all you need are a few simple ingredients (listed below), a SCOBY (symbotic colony of bacteria and yeast), and about 7 days.

This simple recipe from Thrive Market will get you started - and if you don't have all the ingredients, you can get them from Thrive as well. This recipe makes about 4 cups (1 quart).

This quick video shows how to make it. See ingredients and instructions below the video.

How to Make Homemade Kombucha

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 cups hot water (filtered/chlorine-free)
  
• ¼ cup granulated organic sugar
  
• 2 black tea bags (or 1 ½ teaspoons loose tea)
  
• Distilled white vinegar
  
• Starter culture (SCOBY)
  

Instructions:

• Add sugar and water to a quart-size glass jar. (It doesn’t need to be boiling, just warm enough to melt the sugar and steep the tea.)
  
• Stir to dissolve sugar, then add tea bags; steep 10 minutes and discard tea bags.
  
• Let liquid cool completely to room temperature (68° to 85° F), 1 to 2 hours.
  
• Next, add vinegar and kombucha SCOBY. Cover jar with a paper coffee filter or a fine-mesh dish towel and secure with a rubber band.
  
• Find a warm spot in your house away from direct sunlight to let kombucha rest for at least 7 days and up to 30 days.
  
• Taste with a straw beginning at day 7. Once it tastes good to you, it’s ready to drink!
  

As I mentioned above, I have not tried this yet, but I will plan to make some soon. I also want to try some variations such as adding various flavorings, using honey or maple syrup instead of sugar, and using green tea instead of black - which I assume should also work? Once I've tried a few of these, I will update this or post again and share what I've learned.

In the meantime, if you've tried making your own kombucha, feel free to share your tips or experiences in the comments below!

To your health,
Rose.