Kombucha
With our super busy schedules lately, a lot of things have slid. My house isn't so clean. I still have boxes to unpack (I need to find my favorite coffee mug), my cooking has gotten a little easier but one thing remains, I'm always up for a challenge. My friend C challenged me over two years ago now to make our own kombucha. I knew I needed to get moved and settled first but I was confident with the skills. Between beer brewing and yogurt making, the process wasn't unfamiliar. So after a few months of getting ready, I was jumping to get this project started.
The most difficult part was finding an unflavored kombucha since I had to make my own scoby. I searched a few usual grocery stores before I found one.
In a large pot, bring 7 cups of water and 4 bags of tea (or 1 tbs of loose leaf tea) to a boil.
Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup of white sugar.
Let cool to room temperature and pour into a large jar (I suggest a 1 gallon glass jar).
Add in 1 cup of the unflavored kombucha and any blobby things at the bottom (that's a baby scoby!).
Cover with a tea towel and rubber band and put in a room where it can sit undisturbed, out of the sunlight and without big temperature fluctuations. The instructions from The Kitchn website said to let it sit for 1-4 weeks until a nice big scoby formed on top of the tea. Kinda vague but for the record, mine took 3 weeks.
Save your scoby and 2 cups of liquid from scoby making jar, store bought kombucha or from a previous kombucha as long as it's unflavored, to make your next batch of kombucha.
Bring 3 1/2 quarts of water to a boil then add 8 tea bags (or 2 tbs loose tea tea).
Add in 1 cup of sugar and let cool to room temperature.
Remove tea bags or strain the loose leaf tea into a large clean gallon glass jar.
Add the 2 cups reserved kombucha and then carefully slide in the scoby.
Cover with a clean tea towel and seal with a rubber band,
As before, put it in a dark place where it won't get jostled and wait 7-10 days or until you get the flavor you like.
The first time around I used 6 bags of PG Tips and 2 bags of my favorite passionfruit mango tea and let it go about 10 days. There's an option to add flavoring to this step but I didn't have time to try it this time around.
Remove the scoby and place the kombucha into 6 16 oz bottles. We used Grolsch bottles from our beer bottling days and they seem to work fine. I bottled on a Thursday and they were only slighlty fizzy when I checked on Saturday morning. Instructions say 1-3 days but again, use your judgement. To halt the carbonation, put the kombucha in the fridge and then consumer within a month.
I went ahead and made another batch of 'bucha but if you're not ready to made another batch, save the scoby, tea base and kombucha and store on the counter or fridge. You won't be able to drink the counter version but it will keep the scoby alive. In the fridge, swap out the liquid every 4-6 weeks.
In a large pot, bring 7 cups of water and 4 bags of tea (or 1 tbs of loose leaf tea) to a boil.
Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup of white sugar.
Let cool to room temperature and pour into a large jar (I suggest a 1 gallon glass jar).
Add in 1 cup of the unflavored kombucha and any blobby things at the bottom (that's a baby scoby!).
Cover with a tea towel and rubber band and put in a room where it can sit undisturbed, out of the sunlight and without big temperature fluctuations. The instructions from The Kitchn website said to let it sit for 1-4 weeks until a nice big scoby formed on top of the tea. Kinda vague but for the record, mine took 3 weeks.
Save your scoby and 2 cups of liquid from scoby making jar, store bought kombucha or from a previous kombucha as long as it's unflavored, to make your next batch of kombucha.
Bring 3 1/2 quarts of water to a boil then add 8 tea bags (or 2 tbs loose tea tea).
Add in 1 cup of sugar and let cool to room temperature.
Remove tea bags or strain the loose leaf tea into a large clean gallon glass jar.
Add the 2 cups reserved kombucha and then carefully slide in the scoby.
Cover with a clean tea towel and seal with a rubber band,
As before, put it in a dark place where it won't get jostled and wait 7-10 days or until you get the flavor you like.
The first time around I used 6 bags of PG Tips and 2 bags of my favorite passionfruit mango tea and let it go about 10 days. There's an option to add flavoring to this step but I didn't have time to try it this time around.
Remove the scoby and place the kombucha into 6 16 oz bottles. We used Grolsch bottles from our beer bottling days and they seem to work fine. I bottled on a Thursday and they were only slighlty fizzy when I checked on Saturday morning. Instructions say 1-3 days but again, use your judgement. To halt the carbonation, put the kombucha in the fridge and then consumer within a month.
I went ahead and made another batch of 'bucha but if you're not ready to made another batch, save the scoby, tea base and kombucha and store on the counter or fridge. You won't be able to drink the counter version but it will keep the scoby alive. In the fridge, swap out the liquid every 4-6 weeks.
Comments
Post a Comment