Finally….I have a chance to actually photographed my kombucha tea and now typing something out (kids are napping! Heaven!). You probably don’t need me to tell you about the health benefits of Kombucha. If you found this page, I’m sure you’ve done some research on your own. If you by any chance never heard of Kombucha and all the big fuss about it…well, here it goes….
What in the world is this kombucha tea ?
Kombucha tea is a tea that is made by fermentation of SCOBY in a sugary tea. From the fermentation, the tea is populate with LOTS of probiotics that are good to support your gut health. Your overall health starts in your gut if you haven’t heard that already 😉 (so, that’s the big fuss about it!!) But I don’t buy the idea that kombucha can cure any disease you have. No, IT DOESN’T ! It’s not an Elixir! 😉
What is SCOBY ?
Symbiotic Cultures Of Bacteria And Yeast is what it stands for. The bacteria and yeast work together to produce the probiotics. It feeds from the tea and the sugar that you use to make the tea. It is rubbery, slimy, spongy (almost) and does look like a mushroom as it grows bigger and bigger
I heard it contains alcohol ?
Yes, a very tiny bit! probably from around 0.3 – 3% from what I read. I usually consume about 4-6 oz of kombucha daily. So, I’m not drunk for sure !! My son has turned one year old and nursing frequency is much much lesser and I felt that I can safely consume kombucha tea and we’re still nursing at 15 months now
Does it taste good ?
It has that balance of sweetness and tangy-ness. The longer it brews, the less sweet it is
We’ve started drinking Kombucha tea probably about 4 months ago. I got my dehydrated SCOBY from Cultures for Health. They include instruction on how to activate the SCOBY and then make your very first batch and so on. My favorite Kombucha tea is the one made with black oolong tea. In fact, it’s the best kind of tea for the SCOBY too.
The ready-to-drink kombucha tea are sold at stores now too. I just thought that making your own is really actually very simple (regardless of the wordy instructions, it’s not complicated! I promise!!). You can either get the SCOBY from a friend or family member or get the dehydrated form like I did.
REFRESHING KOMBUCHA TEA
Ingredients
Equipments needed:
- 1 gallon glass jar I got mine from target
- Rubber band
- Towel or coffee filter or paper towel
What you need:
- 2 tea bags of oolong tea or 1 1/2 tsp loose tea
- 3 cups hot filtered water
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup Starter Tea or use distilled white vinegar if you don't have any left tea from previous batch
Instructions
- Combine 3 cups of hot water with 1/4 cup sugar in a glass jar. Stir to dissolve. Then add in the tea bags or loose tea and steep for 10 minutes. Let it cool to about 68 to 85 F (I didn't measure the temperature, I just let it cool completely/cool to touch). Remove the tea bags or strain the loose tea from the liquid
- Add in 1/2 cup of vinegar if you don't have starter tea from previous batch and then add in the scoby and let it sit undisturbed for the next 7 to 14 days and away from other fermented stuff you have going on in your kitchen. I usually go for 7-8 days. The longer you let it sit, the less sweet it tastes
- Once the kombucha is ready after 7 days or whatever days that you find tastes best to you, prepare another 3 cups of hot water, dissolves the sugar and steep the tea and let it cool as directed above
- Then pour out about 1/2 cup of the ready kombucha from step 3 to reserve as starter tea for your next batch. Remove the scoby with a very clean hand or use a clean plastic spoon (DO NOT USE ANYTHING METAL TO COME IN CONTACT WITH THE SCOBY!! It will damage the Scoby) to the sugary tea you prepare above and seal it just like before and let it sit for the next 7-14 days.
- Transfer the rest of the ready kombucha into another glass bottle and cover with lid (preferrable plastic lid) and let it sit for another 2 days on room temperature to allow it to become "fizzy". After that transfer to a refrigerator and it will stop to carbonate and you can enjoy your cold fizzy kombucha tea
Notes
I’m not endorsing any brands you see in the photos. They are just for my props 🙂 And…No, you don’t need a tea pot. I just like the include it in my photo ha!!
