Kombucha 4 Ways
Home-made kombucha has got to be one of my favourite beverages as an alternative drink in the evenings, when I’m hosting friends or family, to carry to work for a mid-day reset feeling (apparently life really is about the in-between moments) or to send friends off with. I much prefer home-made kombucha which has not been treated with heat to stop fermentation (and thereby kills off the probiotics/good bacteria) or carbonated with extra gases that can often make individuals feel very bubbly inside!
This serves a family of 6 (that always have one eye on the kombucha station) for about one evening…
- 2 Litres of strong black tea (opt for loose leaf where possible to avoid bleach, glue and plastic from tea bags)
- 14 Tablespoons of white sugar (this is fermented into gases, making the final product much lower in sugar)
- A Scoby (you can purchase these through my shop or they are often available on facebook)
- 1 cup of mother liquid (untreated kombucha)
- Large glass vessel & cotton or linen piece of cloth to seal vessel
Method
1. Brew a strong batch of black tea and let it cool to room temperature. Strain into large glass vessel.
2. Add the sugar & stir until dissolved
3. Add Scoby & mother liquid
4. Secure a natural-fibre cloth on mouth of vessel. Do not seal off with a lid as the Kombucha needs to breathe.
5. Let it sit for about 5-7 days and strain from the scoby when it has reached your desired taste. Leaving it longer will increase carbonation but will also increase acidity, so take little taste testers daily.
6. Store in glass bottles in the fridge for up to 1 week- after this it tends to be quiet sour/acidic. A new Scoby may start to grow- that’s great, just strain it off before you drink your Kombucha!
To make your Kombucha flavoured you can either make a flavoured tea before fermentation, add juice to the fermentation, or add flavour after fermentation while your Kombucha rests in the fridge. I prefer to flavour my tea before fermentation, to save time, but Kombucha making is forgiving and there is no wrong way to flavour this drink!
PEPPERMINT KOMBUCHA
To make Peppermint Kombucha, simply add 2 Tablespoons of peppermint leaves or 5 peppermint teabags to the black tea brew before you let it cool to room temperature and add the rest of the ingredients.
SOUR CHERRY KOMBUCHA
Sour Cherry is one of few foods that contain Melatonin (a sleep hormone) and this is not fermented by Kombucha, making this a beautiful evening drink to support sleep later on.
To make Sour Cherry Kombucha, add 500mls – 1L of pure sour cherry juice (depending on how flavoured you like it) to your room temperature black tea and continue your fermentation method as usual.
STRAWBERRY RECIPE
To make a classic strawberry Kombucha, add a generous amount of strawberry slices to your Kombucha, after the fermentation process, when you are bottling up the kombucha for the fridge. For the flavour to infuse the Kombucha usually takes 1-2 days.
