Anyone make their own Kombucha

I am now making my very first batch of kombucha, and I can hardly wait to try it ! Kadee recommended a book about kombucha, and I have ordered it from Amazon and should have it this week.
I know that this is an old thread, so I am hoping that by now, more people are drinking kombucha and maybe making their own ?

This is my first batch, started last week, and it is definitely starting to ferment, and is also making a new baby SCOBY on the top. Once it has made a new one, I will be able to use that and start another batch as well as adding more tea to the first batch and making more from that. AB71DA45-C3DB-4F4C-9974-E43828305742.jpeg3DDE8889-CCB8-4E88-9E2E-FC860EDCA7C5.jpeg
 

Happyflowerlady said:
How do you drink your Yerba-mate, @Murrmurr ? I have some but just drank it like regular tea and not as a fermented probiotic drink for gut health.
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Unfermented. It comes loose, and I buy the kilo bags. I drink it traditional-style from a cup made from a dried gourd and sometimes from a wooden cup. Both of them imbue the tea with a little flavor. I heat water in a kettle on a little propane stove, drop a small spoonful of sugar into the cup, then fill it about 1/4-inch from the top with the crushed yerba leaves, and repeat my mantra til the water is about 180 degrees F.

I pour the water slowly over the tea til the cup is a little over half full and let that steep for a minute or so, then slide my bombilla down into the cup along the side. The first drink is a bit bitter, which is why I do a half cup, but it's good. I fill the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cups to the brim (these are very small cups...like, 3-4 ounces).

I don't take long pulls from the bombilla (the straw); I like to savor my yerba tea-time, so it's short sips. Plus I combine drinking yerba with like a period of moderate meditation (not very deep), so I take my time with it. I reheat the water as needed. Sometimes I add bits of fruit or wildflower flower petals...lavender, those little white ones I forget the name of, or lilac, whichever is available and depending on the time of day.

I drink yerba at least twice a day. Normally, you drink in a group or with at least one other person, and you pass the cup back and forth in turns. Michelle drinks it with me occasionally, and some of my grandkids do when they visit, but usually I have to drink alone. Which is ok. It's a yummy pleasure.
 
Happyflowerlady said:
I am now making my very first batch of kombucha, and I can hardly wait to try it ! Kadee recommended a book about kombucha, and I have ordered it from Amazon and should have it this week.
I know that this is an old thread, so I am hoping that by now, more people are drinking kombucha and maybe making their own ?

This is my first batch, started last week, and it is definitely starting to ferment, and is also making a new baby SCOBY on the top. Once it has made a new one, I will be able to use that and start another batch as well as adding more tea to the first batch and making more from that. View attachment 270645View attachment 270646
Click to expand...
This is on my list.
 
I was given Kombucha SCOBY but decided to stay with Keifer (I am lactose intolerant and able to consume keifer (for the calcium.)
 
An update on the kombucha .
I have been making it for going on two months now, and drinking some just about every day. One of the things that I really notice that is different is how much better my mind is working. Before, I used to feel kind of fuzzy-headed some days, but when i drink the kombucha, it seems to help me be a lot more focused and think better.

It is so expensive to buy, but so cheap and easy to make at home, and i am having fun experimenting with the different flavors on the carbonation ferment.
So far, my favorite is grape juice added, but I also like apple juice, and pineapple flavored. This time, I added some Hawaiian Punch and extra pineapple juice, so I am expecting it to be delicious once it is done.

I have started using two large jars with spigots so that i can do continuous brewing.
I taste it every so often to see how I like the flavor, and if most of the sugar is gone, and when it seems right to me, then I drain out about half of the jar , add flavorings and bottle it. Next, I brew a 12 cup pot of tea, add the sugar, and when it has cooled to room temperature, I refill the jar again.
Pretty simple procedure !


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The SCOBY is interesting, but not icky to me. In any case, I don’t even touch it when doing the continuous brewing. If you are making batches, then you are emptying out the jar each time and moving the SCOBY back into the jar for the new batch; but the way I am doing it, I just drain the kombucha out from the spigot, and add the fresh tea back into the top of the jar, and never touch anything inside of the jar.
Since about half of the jar is always starter/fermented kombucha, it does not take as long for the new batch to be ready this way, which is also nice.
I just take a little bit of a taste into a small cup from the spigot to see how the flavor is coming along. Eventually, my SCOBY will get too large, and then I will have to take some of it out, but that has not happened yet. It is kind of spongy, but not slimy or anything like that.
 
Making kombucha again !
I stopped making it over the winter because it has been too cold for drinking anything cold, and my kombucha just sat in the refrigerator. I just started a new batch today, so it will be about 2 weeks before it is ready to drink.
 
Dr. Davis has a new video about making a probiotic juice using a starter from a bottle of kombucha. I had pretty much stopped making it at home because it just takes up so much counter space. I needed one gallon jars to ferment the SCOBY and the tea and then another jar to add the flavoring juice to the kombucha tea, and then it needed another ferment in the refrigerator after being bottled and fermenting on the counter.
So, I had kombucha all over, and then a lot of it to drink !

Anyway, this probiotic drink looks much simpler to make. You just add some kombucha starter to some pure juice and keep it warm for about 2 days so the kombucha probiotics can work in the juice and culture all the sugar out of the juice. I am going to try making this and see how it goes, but it looks like it would be easy enough to do and a very healthy drink.

 
I’ll admit to buying, not making kombucha. It is pricey $5 for 500 ml, so I’ve just been having a small glass while making dinner. I had no idea that there‘re health benefits. Since I have no room in my fridge or on the counter, I won’t be making it. I’m rather addicted to it. Let us know how you like the new recipe.
 

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