Making KOMBUCHA at home!!

 There was nothing much happening in this year of Covid, so needed something interesting to be done. My neighborhood friend asked if any of us wanted to make Kombucha at home as she was ready to offer 'SCOBY - symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast', its a cluture that is needed to make Kombucha at home. 

Another drink with fancy name: Since its a fermented drink loaded with pro-biotics, it aids in digestion and gut health. Studies have shown it can assist in the treatment of arthritis, depression and heart burn. Its is great for liver detoxification, improves pancreas function, increases energy by boosting immune system and can be used to treat Candida.

How much to drink: Its recommened to drink 1 to 3 times daily with 8 fl oz per serving. Currently we just drink once a day around 4 fl oz per serving. We will gradually increase.

Close up of SCOBY!!

My friend made a video and gave me a mason jar with black tea kombucha along with SCOBY in it. Glad to have such generous neighborhood friends! She gave me the fresh batch so had to let it ferment for 6-7 days. The first sip on the 6th day was really so good! We waited a day for the sugar sweetness to subside. It was really very good with kind of rose smell to the tea. My hubby and I instantly fell in love with the taste and smell. Decided to make it a routine drink for us. Our household has no coffee or tea drinkers so had to do some research on what kind of teas goes well. Any kind of Black Tea, Green Tea, White Tea and Oolong Teas works best for making Kombucha! Since my body can't handle caffine, I opted for decaffinated Balck Tea.

On the 6th day of fermentation, this is how it looks👇. SCOBY is on the top of the bottle. Looks moldy but its still healthy. 

There are several layers of SCOBY 👇, the Kombucha is of great taste when the SCOBY isn't too thin or thick. 1/2 inch is the right size to make this 2L(wide mouthed Mason jar) bottole of Kombucha. If you see the SOCBY growing in size, you can either discard extra layers or share with a friend to make fresh batch. I started another batch of green tea Kombucha with the extra layers.

How to prepare Kombucha: Boil 3 cups of water and add 1/2 cup light brown sugar(white sugar works fine). Dunk 2 tea bags for 15 min. Keep a washed mason jar with wide mouth ready, ensure there are no soap traces inside. This can kill the SCOBY easily. The prepared tea should be cooled to lukewarm. Add the prepared tea to empty mason jar. Introduce SOCBY by gently adding in along with 1/2 cup of old kombucha. Ensure not to use metal spoons for long, quick dip and insert is fine. Cover the bottle with coffee filter sealed by a loose rubberband. I write the start date and end date on these, that helps me to keep tab on when to make fresh batch. Once this tea is ready on 30th, I will move the ready Kombucha to another bottle by retaining SCOBY and 1/2 cup tea for next batch.