A few months ago, I started to brew my own Kombucha.
I first heard and tasted this drink when I was in CEGEP as it was sold in the students’ cafe. I really enjoyed the sour taste and bubbles! At the time, I was studying in biology and was really amazed by the science behind the drink. It made my brain very happy! However, this interest never really lead to anything more than the occasional kombucha break.
Then, last summer I started to work with a bunch of really nice and interesting people. They were all (and still are) very passionate about nature and some might be considered as happy hippies… but really I never met such authentic and wholesome people (big chunk of love to you!) Anyways, I started to talk about kombucha and one of the girls told me she could give me a 4L glass container so that I could start brewing my own. And so it started… 🙂
A year after, I have tried many different recipes of kombucha by testing different teas and mixes of herbal teas. I have not yet decided on which one is the best, but I wanted to share my basic recipe with you:
What you will need:
– 4L glass container/jar : it is very very important that it is glass as plastic will not make your mother kombucha happy.
– 3 tea bags of your favourite unflavoured tea: it is important to use unflavoured because some essential oils used in flavouring teas (ex.: bergamot used in earl grey)will harm your mother kombucha making the whole process longer.
– 3 tea bags of your favourite herbal tea: again try to keep it simple. * you could use just 6 bags of tea, but I find that mixing the two is an easy way to add flavours to your kombucha.
– 650mL or 2 3/4 cups of already made kombucha: this will make the process possible.
– 2/3 cup sugar: to feed to mother kombucha: you can use more or less depending on your taste!
– 4L water
– Mother Kombucha
– Paper towels or piece of clothe to close the jar: the mother kombucha needs some air so make sure air can go through!
– 1 elastic to keep the clothe on the jar: very important! You don’t want any flies matting in there!
– enough glass bottles to receive the kombucha!
-a piece of fresh ginger
What you will do:
– Bring some water to boil and let infuse the tea and herbal tea for 3 minutes. Then, remove the tea bags.
– Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
– Add the rest of the water (keep in mind you still have some liquid to add so leave space! you can always add more water to fill in at the end)
– Add the already made kombucha.
– Fill in the jar with the rest of the water (if needed)
– Test the temperature to make sure it is lukewarm. If the temperature is too high, the mother kombucha will die, and you don’t want that.
– Add your mother kombucha.
– Close the jar with your piece of clothe and elastic.
– Place in a dark, cool (but not too cold) place for a few days. Depending on the temperature, it might take anywhere between 4 to 10 days for your kombucha to get to the level of “sourness” you like. The best way to know if it’s ready is to taste it! Don’t wait too long because if you do, you will end up with a 4L batch of vinegar…
– Once the kombucha is sour to your taste, distribute the liquid in clean glass bottles.
– Cut small pieces (1cm cubes) of fresh ginger and place one in each bottle. This will help with the bubble process.
– Place the closed bottles in a dark place and leave for a few days for the bubbles to form. Once again, you will need to taste it to know when they are ready.
– Once the bubbles are there, place the bottles in the fridge. Your kombucha is ready to serve!
As you can see, making kombucha is really easy. However, you might have to try and test a few teas before you find the right ones. Also, you will soon see that each time you make a batch a daughter kombucha is formed. Share it with some friends or keep it to start another batch! Finally, once you brewed your first batch you will be able to reuse your mother kombucha and some of your brewed tea for the following batches.
We are head-over-heels about kombucha! It is a really great drink for the summer as it is very refreshing!
What are your favourite flavours? Have you ever tried making your own?
My Lighthearted Kitchen 