Homemade Kombucha Recipe

Fermented foods and beverages are becoming increasingly popular, adding variety, new flavours and interesting textures to our diets. However for many people it is the potential health benefits that are the main reason for consuming them. My sister-in-law Bronnie gave me a kombucha scoby so that I could try making homemade kombucha. Kombucha is full of living organisms to help feed and develop healthy gut bacteria, helping to improve digestion and immunity, and eases the symptoms of bloating.

There are thousands of different types of fermented foods, including cultured milk and yoghurt, wine, beer, cider, kombucha, miso, and sauerkraut. These have been part of our diet for centuries, originally used as a way of preserving food. “Fermentation is an anaerobic process in which microorganisms like yeast and bacteria break down food components (e.g. sugars such as glucose) into other products (e.g. organic acids, gases or alcohol). This gives fermented foods their unique and desirable taste, aroma, texture and appearance.”

This is a recipe for making homemade kombucha using a scoby and some starter kombucha tea. It makes about 3 litres of kombucha (4x 750ml bottles).

I purchased a 4 litre glass jar from Arthur Holmes to make my brew in.

You will need:
1 x scoby (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast)
1 cup starter kombucha tea (this helps to create the optimal environment for the scoby to thrive)
500ml + 2.5L water
1 cup sugar
4 tea bags *

Pour 500ml boiling water into a jug and add sugar, stirring to dissolve. Then add tea bags and allow to seep until water has cooled.

When the tea has cooled, use a wooden spoon to remove the tea bags, and transfer the cold tea into your glass fermentation jar. Then add the starter tea and the remaining 2.5L water.

With clean hands, pick up the scoby and slide it (with the smooth side facing up) into the fermentation jar. Cover the jar with a paper towel, and secure with rubber band.

Place the jar at room temperature to ferment somewhere where it won’t get disturbed, and out of direct sunlight.  Leave to ferment for 7-10 days*.  Healthy fermentation signs include brown stringy floaties, sediment collecting at the bottom, and bubbles forming around the scoby.

* Sample after 5-6 days using a small cup (not metal). You want a good balance between sweetness and tartness; the longer you leave it the tarter it will become. One of the benefits of making your own kombucha is that you can adjust this to your own taste preferences.

Once you have the desired taste, you are ready to bottle your kombucha.

First, measure 1 cup of the liquid to become the next starter liquid. Pour this into a container and gently transfer the scoby into it.

Wash glass bottles in hot soapy water to sterilise. If you want to add additional flavours** to your kombucha, now is the time to do it. See below.

Then pour your kombucha into the bottles using a funnel (you can strain it through a cloth if you want) leaving about 2cm head room in each bottle.

Then leave your bottled kombucha at room temperature and out of sunlight for 1-3 days for its secondary fermentation. This will give a natural carbonation. Once it has reached your desired level of fizz, put the bottles in the refrigerator to stop the fermentation process.

**Additional flavours

The basic recipe uses black tea bags during the first fermentation but you can use any flavour tea bags you wish. With these you may not need to add any additional flavours during the second ferment.

• Bronnie uses berry tea bags during the first ferment; I tried raspberry and pomegranate for my second batch.

For the second ferment you can add flavours such as ginger, fruit, herbs, spices or teas.

• I added a tsp of lemon juice and a tsp of grated ginger to each bottle for my first batch.
• I found a recipe that added pieces of diced apple and some chips of cinnamon quill – I will try that next time
• Other recipes add fruit juice rather than pieces of fruit

Start your next brew 

You can now use your scoby to brew another batch or store the scoby and starter liquid in the refrigerator until you are ready.

You may find that your scoby forms a younger layer on top, which can be shared with a friend, or used to start another brew if you want to expand your efforts.