Kombucha Recipe (Simple Home Brewing Guide)

This is our basic, tried-and-true kombucha recipe.

You Will Need

• 3 quarts purified water
• 1½ cups white sugar (organic is best)
• 5–6 tea bags or 2 tablespoons loose tea (organic is best)
  You can use all black tea, or half black and half green. Make sure your black tea is not decaf — kombucha needs caffeine.
• A container that holds about 3½ quarts of liquid (glass is best, plastic will work; no metal — kombucha does not like metal)
• A thin, clean cloth to cover the container and something to secure it with (rubber band or tape)
• A kombucha SCOBY with a little starter tea (check local groups, or see instructions for growing your own SCOBY )

Instructions

Bring the water to a boil. Add the sugar and boil for about 5 minutes, or until the sugar is fully dissolved. Turn off the heat and add the tea.

Let the tea steep for about 10 minutes, then remove the tea bags or strain out the loose tea. Pour the tea into your container and allow it to cool to room temperature. (This can take a while.)

Once cooled, gently add your SCOBY and starter tea. Stir with a clean, non-metal spoon. Cover with a thin cloth and secure it to keep out dust and bugs.

Leave the container on your kitchen counter for 7–14 days. You will notice a new SCOBY forming on the surface.

After about 7 days, begin tasting your kombucha carefully. The longer it ferments, the more vinegary it becomes. In our climate we usually like it around 10 days, though in a previous home we preferred 12 days.

Next Steps

You now have two options:

• Bottle it, add flavor if desired, refrigerate, and enjoy.
• Do a second ferment to increase carbonation (this is what we do). Pour kombucha into bottles (we reuse Grolsch bottles), add flavoring (we like 4 frozen raspberries per bottle), cap, and leave on the counter for 2 days. Refrigerate before drinking.

Other flavor ideas include fresh grated ginger, lemon juice, cut peaches or apples, and dried cherries.

Be sure to save 2 cups of kombucha along with your SCOBY for your next batch. Separate the mother and baby SCOBY gently. Keep one and share or discard the other (include starter tea if giving it away), or brew two batches next time.

Probiotics Aren’t Just for Your Gut

Now how about some probiotics for your armpits? Yes — it’s a thing! Check out the reviews on our amazing organic deodorant that really works.