How to Make Homemade Kombucha Tea
Kombucha is a healthy fermented drink – a fermented tea. Fermented foods are good for your gut. It’s easy to make kombucha and it can be flavored in so many ways. The cost of homemade kombucha is so affordable!
To make homemade kombucha, you can use green or black tea bags. You will need sugar and a scoby (or “mother”). You can use a flavored tea, or add fruits while fermenting (only if your kombucha gets ready in a few days – you risk moldy fruits if they take more time to sit in room temps), but I like to add flavor after it’s ready.
You can get or buy scoby (the mucus-y thing in the kombucha, which is the source of the healthy bacteria and yeasty thing that is the key to fermenting, also known as a “mother”) – get it from a friend, from a kombucha source, or just from a bottle of plain kombucha. I tried a kombucha tea kit packet that had a scoby – the kombucha got moldy. I have better luck getting a scoby from a small bottle of plain kombucha (usually GT brand plain flavor kombucha because there’s usually a larger scoby than other brands and I can see how large the scoby is). I just pour the kombucha into a glass and let the scoby stay in the bottle for using. When you make your batch of homemade kombucha, you can save the scoby film to re-use and grow. I always save my scoby film in a jar with some kombucha to keep it moist, in the refrigerator.
I use filtered water but hopefully you have good tap water otherwise. Boil water and figure to use 1 cup sugar per gallon of water and 10 or so tea bags. I boil ¾ gallon of water at a time, so I use ¾ cup sugar and 9 tea bags per my stove glass water pot.
Remember – if the amount of sugar seems like it’s a lot, it’s being eaten by the bacteria and yeasts in order to facilitate the fermentation. Kombucha fermenting eats the sugars.
When the water gets boiling, turn it off and remove the pot. Place the tea bags in and let sit for 3-4 minutes, making sure to dunk them into the water so they don’t sit on top of the water. After the time, pull them out (I first squeeze the bags to make sure the tea is all out). Then add the appropriate amount of sugar and stir until dissolved. Homemade kombucha is so easy to make.
Set it aside until it reaches room temperature. I pour it into a big glass jar and boil another pot of sweet tea to add to it – to make a bigger batch. When at room temperature, I add the scoby (I have never had an issue about how much scoby to add – it grows no matter how much or little I put in). Put a cheesecloth over the top of the jar and tie a string or use a rubber band to keep it covered, but still able to breathe. This will also keep the fruit flies from getting in, if you have that issue.
Check the kombucha daily after a couple days. It can be ready in a few days to a couple weeks, so see how it looks and tastes for you. You will see a scoby film growing over the top. Eventually you will see some fizzy white spots. As long as they are white and not getting green or funky colored, it should be fine. Taste it every day once this starts, and see how sweet you want it, before it tastes too vinegary. The longer it ferments, the less sweet it will be but also fizzier. You will soon know how many fizzy spots to look for to be at the right sweetness without needing to taste.
Then pull out the scoby and bottle the kombucha into dark bottles and put them into the refrigerator (or leave them in the bottles for an extra day and then to the fridge). I try to get a bit of scoby remains (my scoby releases remnants of itself) into each bottle to keep the kombucha fermenting a bit more. I keep the big piece of scoby in a small bottle with a bit of kombucha in a jar and put it in the refrigerator, to use for my next batch.
When the scoby film gets big, I separate it and put it into separate jars. Wash your hands – then hold the scoby and you can just pull apart layers – don’t be scared. You could also use a sharp knife and cut pieces off but it feels better to find a natural separation. You can share the extra ones with other people – or keep them in case you get a moldy batch and have to throw it all away and start over.
When I am ready to drink, I sometimes add some flavor (usually some IKEA syrup like lingonberry or blueberry) then drink and enjoy. It’s good enough without added flavor most of the time.
Photos below – tea bags in my water pot, squeezing the bags to get the most tea. Then add the sugar while stirring to dissolve. When cool, add the scoby, then check daily for proper time to bottle. I bottled when mine looked like the one in the big jar. The small jar holds my scoby in the refrigerator. I used to use plastic wrap for a better seal on the bottles but figured it’s not really necessary.
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