I began drinking kombucha over the past couple of months as part of a gut-healthy nutrition discipline. It’s refreshing, naturally carbonated, and I really enjoy the change it provides to my palate. In addition to its taste, it’s an all-natural beverage that is low in sugar. Best of all, it is beneficial to my digestive, circulatory, and immune health. If you like the taste of tea and you would like to enhance your internal health, I will show you how easy it is to make your own and begin to enjoy all of the benefits.
What Makes Kombucha So Good for Me?
Kombucha is a fermented beverage made from sweet tea. The fermentation process with kombucha creates several types of acid, namely acetic, gluconic, and glucuronic. Acetic acid is what is found in vinegar, like apple cider vinegar. Whether you make vinegar at home or buy it in the store, it does have benefits for your health, including inhibiting the growth of bad bacteria like salmonella and E.
The other active ingredients present in kombucha is what makes it different from other fermented consumables like vinegar. While acetic acid inhibits bad bacteria, these other fermented beauties promote good bacteria in your body. The fermentation of glucose produces gluconic acid which acts as a probiotic in your GI tract to increase the number of good bacteria. Glucuronic acid is also present in kombucha. The liver naturally produces this acid to attack toxins and flush them out through your kidneys. The naturally occurring glucuronic acid in kombucha aids our overworked livers in combatting these damaging toxins.
Click this link to research the entire chemical background of kombucha, if you are interested in the science behind the beverage. If you would rather just drink the tea, skip the link and keep on reading!
How Do I Get my Own Kombucha?
You can get your hands on kombucha in two main ways: buy it or make it. Before you go through the process of making it (which is not terribly difficult), you should go out to the store, buy some, and sample different brands and flavors. Kombucha is available at most grocery and natural food stores. I encourage you to look for teas with as short an ingredient list as possible. Unfortunately, I have mistakenly bought kombucha with added sugar, stevia, concentrated fruit juice, etc. I encourage you not to make the same mistakes I have made.
As you will see from the homemade recipe (below), the drink only requires tea, water, and sugar (for the fermentation to occur). The yeast consumes the sugar in the fermentation process and the bacteria creates the beneficial acids. Many brewers will add fruit to the beverage after the initial fermentation process is completed. The secondary fermentation process determines the flavoring and fizziness of your final product.
How to Make it Yourself
If you enjoy the beverage, making it at home saves you money and it also creates a wonderful opportunity to learn and experiment, which I love. Here’s what you need to get started:
3 quarts Water
5 servings Black Tea (tea bags or loose-leaf)
3 servings Green Tea
3 servings Yerba Mate
3/4 cup Sugar + 1 Tbsp
1-gallon glass jar (Must be glass. Plastic will not work)
1 Coffee filter + Rubber Bands
1 SCOBY with 3/4 C of starter Kombucha (fermented)
OK, what is a SCOBY? A SCOBY is an acronym standing for a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. The SCOBY culture ferments the sweetened tea into a cultured beverage. It is the instigator for the brew to turn the tea and sugar into all of those beneficial ingredients we talked about earlier. You can see it floating at the top of my brewed tea on the picture below (right). You can get a SCOBY from a friend who also brews, like me, or order one online. If you live in the Cincinnati area, hit the Contact Me page and I will happily provide you with a live SCOBY and plenty of starter tea.
Get Brewing!
The recipe for making kombucha is very simple. Heat the water to 180 degrees F. Dissolve the sugar in the hot water and add the tea. For 3 quarts of kombucha, I want 9-12 total servings of tea. You can use all black tea, which is the traditional way to brew kombucha. To improve the anti-inflammatory benefits, I include green tea and yerba mate to my brew. Each of these teas includes different ingredients that trigger different beneficial reactions and releases of free radicals in your body.
Let the tea continue to steep in the water until the mixture comes returns to room temperature (about 2-3 hours, depending on your room!). Pour the tea into the gallon glass jar. Add your SCOBY and starter liquid. And lastly, put a coffee filter or cheesecloth over the top and secure with a rubber band. The fermentation process here requires oxygen. I put the container in a quiet, dark corner of the dining room for 10-14 days.
You may start tasting the brew after 10 days. How long you brew your kombucha is entirely up to your taste buds. The longer you brew, the more tart and sour it will become. 14 days seems right for me. To test, take a straw, place it into the brew, and cover the top with your finger. Drain the liquid into a glass and test away. If it’s ready, you can either bottle it and drink right away or go for a second fermentation. If you are playing along at home, you can likely guess I will be doing a second fermentation, which is correct.
Second Fermentation
A second fermentation process allows you to customize your brew in one of two ways: fizziness and flavoring. Once your first fermentation period is complete, remove the SCOBY and a cup of kombucha and set aside. You will use this to start a new fermentation and repeat the process. Pour the remaining kombucha into jars just below the neck level.
At this point, add any variety of fruits to your freshly brewed kombucha. My favorite blend is dark cherry and berries. Feel free to use other fruits or herbs, like mango, pineapple, rosemary, basil, or mint. In the summer, I harvest Lavender and Echinacea from my garden for a deliciously fresh summer sipper. A good rule of thumb here is to add enough organic flavoring to at least cover the top of the liquid. Once you have added your fruits and herbs, tighten a lidon the jar to create carbonation in your kombucha.
If you put the lid on so that some air can still get in, you will develop some fizz and the flavoring will work into the brew but it will not be significantly fizzy, The fizziness comes from the yeast in your brew continuing to feed on the sugar in the tea. Just like bread or beer, if you allow the yeast to feed on the sugar it will emit carbon dioxide and create the fizz. If you put the lids on tightly, the carbonation cannot escape and will remain in the kombucha. You should “burp” the jars during and at the completion of the second brew. You can taste after 3 days and decide if it time to go into the refrigerator or if you will keep fermenting. How long you ferment is totally dependent on your personal preference. 4 days is the sweet spot for my taste.
Enjoy!
Once your second fermentation is complete, siphon off your organic flavorings, pour into bottles, and store in your refrigerator until you are ready to consume. That’s it. From start to finish, it takes 14 days or so to ferment. The work is easy, but like Tom Petty said, “the waiting is the hardest part.” I agree Tom, but the finished product is worth the wait. Get started today and some will be ready before you know it. Enjoy!
