Kombucha tea

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Kombucha is nature’s answer to the soft drink!! Embrace yourself with a SCOBY...

"symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast" for ultimate health and vitality! Japanese Kombucha tea is a delicious energizing beverage that tastes like tart green apple and roasted stone fruit but with a hint of sweet fizzy nectar that keeps it altogether...Packed with probiotics, your body will love you! Basically, you take a baby Kombucha 'mushroom' or SCOBY and let it ferment in prepared sweetened organic tea for 10-15 days, or longer depending on the temperature, takes longer in Winter!! It grows in the tea and actually reproduces a new baby (how cute).

With this, you can start a new pot of Kombucha, or give the baby to a friend! The beverage you end up with can look a little off-putting to some folk if you don't know what it is - but tastes delicious!!. Since it's fermented, it's has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. It is also very easy for your body to absorb, as well as detoxifying and enzyme & nutrient-rich. If you over-ferment it gets quite vinegary, so still totally delish used as a salad dressing or where you would normally add vinegar! 

Another way to drink Kombucha is to mix the finished batch with something else – a second ferment, by adding fruit - I often make orange Kombucha: half Kombucha and half orange juice. The kids love it! You can also make beautiful healing mocktails and cocktails for the festive season or ice-blocks or gummies, or dressings!!

You need a Kombucha mushroom to begin making Kombucha, and the best way to obtain one is if you know someone who already has a Kombucha “mother” – you just need to ask them for a “baby.”

Remember these cultures are living beings that continuously make “babies,” so soon after you begin making Kombucha you will be left with a choice: start a kombucha farm in your kitchen like I did, or feed your compost bin or Give her back to the earth! Here is the recipe for Kombucha tea from Nourishing Traditions:

Ingredients

  • 3 litres filtered water
  • 1 cup organic, refined white sugar (the only time you’ll see this ingredient on our page)
  • 4 bags of black tea (organic tea is best)
  • ½ cup Kombucha from previous culture (you of course won’t have this the first time)
  • 1 Kombucha mushroom/SCOBY

Method

  1. Make black tea by bringing water to a boil, add sugar until dissolved, and then turn off the heat and add tea bags. Let the tea sit in the water until the water is brought down to room temperature.
  2. Remove the tea bags, add the kombucha and the kombucha mushroom (SCOBY).
  3. Stir with a wooden spoon, and transfer to a strong, open glass container. Cover with a clean paper towel or washcloth. Set the container in a shaded area away for about 10 days (I put my containers on the kitchen counter underneath the cabinets).
  4. After ten days strain the kombucha into a jug and begin the process again. Happy Days