Make a sweet tea by steeping ¼ cup of tea leaves in 4L of boiling water in a saucepan (so the heat doesn’t crack your jar) and stir in 1 cup of sugar
Allow tea to cool to room temp, strain out tea leaves, transfer into your jar and add the SCOBY (Symbiotic Community Of Bacteria and Yeast) and some mature kombucha from a previous batch, or a cup of live kombucha. (You can grow your own SCOBY from kombucha! If it is true kombucha it contains all the same living cultures that are 'the SCOBY'. So make the sweet tea, add a cup of kombucha and cover, it will usually take two weeks for a SCOBY to form on the surface, then give it another week to ferment your batch. Follow all other instructions as listed here.)
Cover your jar with a cloth/tea-towel & secure with rubber band around rim (so bugs don’t climb in)
Ferment for 1 to 2 weeks. If the SCOBY floats, it'll grow thicker as it forms a new layer on the surface of the liquid. If it sinks, a new layer will form on the surface anyway! When you are starting out, taste the brew every day and notice how it becomes more sour and less sweet over time. If you want to make a strong vinegar tonic, allow it to brew longer than 2 weeks.
When you are happy with the sweet sour balance you can start drinking it right away or you can add flavourings (such as juice, ginger, herbal teas etc). If you want carbonation, transfer into airtight bottles designed to hold pressure (no wine bottles) and leave un-refrigerated for a couple of days.
Check carbonation levels every day by cracking open the lid. Once it is nice and fizzy, refrigerate and enjoy! Be aware that if you neglect and over-carbonate in glass bottles, they can explode!
Wash your jar and start again (reuse SCOBY and add cooled sweet tea). It can be a good idea to save a little bit of kombucha to add in to the next batch - it helps to adjust the PH balance for the culture to get started - but don't worry too much if you don't :)
Additional information:
SCOBY = Symbiotic Community Of Bacteria & Yeasts
This is the jelly-like disc you have with your kit, it is responsible for fermenting your sweet tea into kombucha. The yeasts convert the sugar to alcohol & the bacteria convert the alcohol into a range of beneficial digestive acids
Tea: We use organic black tea but you can use green, white or oolong teas or any combination of these as they are all prepared from the tea plant (camellia sinensis). While it might be possible to use other herbal teas to make one or two batches, the kombucha culture will deteriorate over time.
Sugar: You can experiment using different types and amounts of sugar, to create different tastes in the end product. The amount of sugar left in the final product will vary depending on length of fermentation time and conditions such as temperature of fermentation (faster in warmer temps) and the ratio of surface area to volume (kombucha ferments faster in squat wide vessels vs tall skinny ones). Generally, about a third to half the sugar is fermented in a semi sweet brew.
You will need to use carbohydrate based sugars, natural/artificial sweeteners will not feed the culture and you will not get any beneficial acids produced from them. Examples of sugars you can use are, cane sugar, honey, and maple syrup. Molasses and coconut sugar will work but be aware they will leave a strong mineral taste.
Time: You can also experiment with how long you like to do the initial fermentation for (in the jar). Taste it every day and see how it changes. Over time it will become less sweet and more vinegary. If all the sugar is consumed, you may need to add up to a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle if carbonation is desired.
Beware: glass bottles can explode if they are left out of the fridge too long so be sure to test carbonation levels every day and refrigerate immediately once carbonated. Only use glass bottles that were made to hold carbonated drinks like beer/cider, aerated water, soft drinks or kombucha.
You add some mature kombucha from a previous batch (back slopping) to your fresh sweet tea at the beginning of the brew to reduce the chance of contamination in the early stages of fermentation. This helps because the acidity of kombucha protects it from contamination by molds and other undesirable microbes. However, in most cases the SCOBY will do a fine job without the need to back slop.
Want a break? If you want to take a break from brewing or want to divide a multilayered SCOBY alien creature so you can hand out to friends and family or keep as back up, just put your SCOBY into a ziplock bag or glass jar with a little bit of liquid and keep in the fridge. It will stay alive for months!
Read more about kombucha here.
Allow tea to cool to room temp, strain out tea leaves, transfer into your jar and add the SCOBY (Symbiotic Community Of Bacteria and Yeast) and some mature kombucha from a previous batch, or a cup of live kombucha. (You can grow your own SCOBY from kombucha! If it is true kombucha it contains all the same living cultures that are 'the SCOBY'. So make the sweet tea, add a cup of kombucha and cover, it will usually take two weeks for a SCOBY to form on the surface, then give it another week to ferment your batch. Follow all other instructions as listed here.)
Cover your jar with a cloth/tea-towel & secure with rubber band around rim (so bugs don’t climb in)
Ferment for 1 to 2 weeks. If the SCOBY floats, it'll grow thicker as it forms a new layer on the surface of the liquid. If it sinks, a new layer will form on the surface anyway! When you are starting out, taste the brew every day and notice how it becomes more sour and less sweet over time. If you want to make a strong vinegar tonic, allow it to brew longer than 2 weeks.
When you are happy with the sweet sour balance you can start drinking it right away or you can add flavourings (such as juice, ginger, herbal teas etc). If you want carbonation, transfer into airtight bottles designed to hold pressure (no wine bottles) and leave un-refrigerated for a couple of days.
Check carbonation levels every day by cracking open the lid. Once it is nice and fizzy, refrigerate and enjoy! Be aware that if you neglect and over-carbonate in glass bottles, they can explode!
Wash your jar and start again (reuse SCOBY and add cooled sweet tea). It can be a good idea to save a little bit of kombucha to add in to the next batch - it helps to adjust the PH balance for the culture to get started - but don't worry too much if you don't :)
Additional information:
SCOBY = Symbiotic Community Of Bacteria & Yeasts
This is the jelly-like disc you have with your kit, it is responsible for fermenting your sweet tea into kombucha. The yeasts convert the sugar to alcohol & the bacteria convert the alcohol into a range of beneficial digestive acids
Tea: We use organic black tea but you can use green, white or oolong teas or any combination of these as they are all prepared from the tea plant (camellia sinensis). While it might be possible to use other herbal teas to make one or two batches, the kombucha culture will deteriorate over time.
Sugar: You can experiment using different types and amounts of sugar, to create different tastes in the end product. The amount of sugar left in the final product will vary depending on length of fermentation time and conditions such as temperature of fermentation (faster in warmer temps) and the ratio of surface area to volume (kombucha ferments faster in squat wide vessels vs tall skinny ones). Generally, about a third to half the sugar is fermented in a semi sweet brew.
You will need to use carbohydrate based sugars, natural/artificial sweeteners will not feed the culture and you will not get any beneficial acids produced from them. Examples of sugars you can use are, cane sugar, honey, and maple syrup. Molasses and coconut sugar will work but be aware they will leave a strong mineral taste.
Time: You can also experiment with how long you like to do the initial fermentation for (in the jar). Taste it every day and see how it changes. Over time it will become less sweet and more vinegary. If all the sugar is consumed, you may need to add up to a teaspoon of sugar to each bottle if carbonation is desired.
Beware: glass bottles can explode if they are left out of the fridge too long so be sure to test carbonation levels every day and refrigerate immediately once carbonated. Only use glass bottles that were made to hold carbonated drinks like beer/cider, aerated water, soft drinks or kombucha.
You add some mature kombucha from a previous batch (back slopping) to your fresh sweet tea at the beginning of the brew to reduce the chance of contamination in the early stages of fermentation. This helps because the acidity of kombucha protects it from contamination by molds and other undesirable microbes. However, in most cases the SCOBY will do a fine job without the need to back slop.
Want a break? If you want to take a break from brewing or want to divide a multilayered SCOBY alien creature so you can hand out to friends and family or keep as back up, just put your SCOBY into a ziplock bag or glass jar with a little bit of liquid and keep in the fridge. It will stay alive for months!
Read more about kombucha here.