Save money and make your own Kombucha from home. Crystal Escobar shows us how it is done. You can get more information about her on Instagram @crystalescobar2 or WannaBeBalanced.com
Ingredients
• 3 Quarts Water
• 1 Cup Sugar (regular granulated sugar works best)
• 6-8 bags Green tea, (or 2 tablespoons loose tea)
• 2 Cups Kombucha (from the store, or from your last batch)
• 1 Scobi
• 2-3 Cups Pureed Fruit
Instructions
Note: Avoid prolonged contact between the kombucha and metal both during and after brewing. This can affect the flavor of your kombucha and weaken the scoby over time. Make the tea base: Bring the water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar to dissolve. Drop in the tea and allow it to steep until the water has cooled. Depending on the size of your pot, this will take a few hours. Add the starter tea: Once the tea is cool, remove the tea bags or strain out the loose tea. Stir in the starter tea/2 cups Kombucha. (The starter tea makes the liquid acidic, which prevents harmful bacteria from growing in the first few days of fermentation.) Transfer to jars and add the scoby: Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon glass jar and place the scoby into the jar with clean hands. Cover the mouth of the jar with a few layers tightly-woven cloth, coffee filters, or paper towels secured with a rubber band. Ferment for 7 to 10 days: Keep the jar at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, and where it won`t get moved or bumped. A new layer of scoby should start forming at the top of the kombucha within a few days. It usually attaches to the old scoby. You may also see brown stringy bits floating beneath the scoby, sediment collecting at the bottom, and bubbles collecting around the scoby. This is all normal and signs of healthy fermentation. After 7 days, begin tasting the kombucha daily by pouring a little out of the jar and into a cup. When it reaches a balance of sweetness and tartness that is pleasant to you, the kombucha is ready to bottle. Remove the scoby: Before proceeding, prepare and cool another pot of strong tea for your next batch of Kombucha. With clean hands, gently lift the scoby out of the kombucha and set it on a clean plate. Bottle the finished kombucha: Measure out your starter tea from this batch of kombucha and set it aside for the next batch. Pour the fermented kombucha (straining, if desired) into bottles using the small funnel, along with any juice, herbs, or fruit you may want to use as flavoring. Leave about a half inch of room in each bottle. Carbonate and refrigerate the finished kombucha: Store the bottled kombucha at room temperature out of direct sunlight and allow 1 to 3 days for the kombucha to carbonate. Refrigerate to stop fermentation and carbonation, and then consume your kombucha within a month. Make a fresh batch of kombucha: Clean the jar being used for kombucha fermentation. Combine the starter tea from your last batch of kombucha with the fresh batch of sugary tea, and pour it into the fermentation jar. Place the scoby on top, cover, and ferment for 7 to 10 days.
Details
Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: Total time: Yield: 1 Gallon
