How to make Kombucha at home

Tangy and Fizzy, kombucha is easily one of my favorite refreshing drinks. It is full of flavor and natural probiotics that can help heal your gut. But YIKES, it is expensive to buy at the store. Here is my little secret, it costs pennies on the dollar when you make it at home.

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Why should I make Kombucha at home

• You will save money making it at home compared to buying a good brand at the store
• Make as much as you want and need
• Choose your own flavors
• It tastes better
• Scoby- you can do so much with them and you get new ones all the time
• Quality ingredients
• Ultimate gut health
• Full of probiotics

What do you need to make kombucha at home

Kombucha mother AKA Scoby. Buying a kit with a scoby starter is a great way to get one if you don’t have one already. You can also make your own from an unflavored store bought kombucha or from a friends. But if your have a friend that makes it, ask them for a scoby. They will have new ones forming all the time and I’m sure they’ll be happy to share.

Organic Black tea. Kombucha is fermented tea. There is only a few types of teas you can use for kombucha making and most are made with black tea. It is safest to stick with the basic one for now.

Organic cane sugar. Kombucha needs sugar to survive. The bacteria feeds off the sugar and basically digests it for you making it a healthy drink for your gut!

Filtered Water. For boiling to make tea. I use a Berkey filter for this.

Glass jar. Any type of jar or container will work, but keep in mind you will need to be able to cover it! Also the scoby will grow to the size of the container, so if it is extra large in width so will the scoby. I like using a gallon jar or half gallon.

Tea towel or coffee filter. Just something to keep your jar covered but not sealed.

Rubber band. To hold the towel on the jar.

How to make Kombucha at home

Supplies

• Glass jar
• Tea kettle or pot for boiling water – i got mine from costco but this one is similar on amazon
• Tea towel
• rubber band
• Stirring spoon

Recipe

• 3-6 organic black tea bags ( I’m using 3 for half a gallon)
• 3 cups of boiling water (it does not have to be exact, just about 1/3 of the way up)
• 1 cup of organic cane sugar
• 3 cups of cold filtered water
• Scoby – if you don’t have a scoby you can use this starter kit!
• 1/2 – 1 cup of kombucha from a previous batch

The process

Boil your 3 cups of water

Add the boiling water to your empty jar

Next, add the tea bags and let it brew for 15 minutes. It helps if you add a plate or lid to the jar to keep all the good properties in!

Take out the tea bags. (I like to save and reuse them to make southern sweet tea after making the kombucha)

Now, add the sugar and stir!

After the sugar is all dissolved add the cold water, but leave enough room for the scoby and starter kombucha.

Stir and check to see if the tea is cool or just warm. This is very important because the scoby can die if it is too hot! It should be just barely warm like a baby’s bottle or room temperature.

Once cool enough add the scoby and fill the rest of the way with starter kombucha.

Cover the kombucha with a tea towel and rubber band to keep bugs out while allowing it to breathe.

In about a week, a new scoby will form and you can drink and bottle up your kombucha.

Second ferment for flavored Kombucha

If you want to second ferment the kombucha and flavor it, add the kombucha to a flip top bottle with fruit, juice, or even jam!

Close the air tight lid and let it sit on the counter for 2-4 days for a second ferment. This is where the carbonation forms so watch your bottles carefully

Open very carefully because they can build up a lot of pressure!

Enjoy your homemade kombucha!