Kombucha is a beverage produced by fermenting sweet tea with a culture of yeast and bacteria. The drink seems to be heavily growing in popularity. You can buy Kombucha, but the prices can be pretty hefty. If you’re looking to try out the drink, here is a recipe so you can enjoy while avoiding breaking the budget.
Kombucha is a fermented beverage of black tea that can increase your health in a matter of days. The powerful drink can help detox your body, increase digestion, give you a boost of energy, and stimulate weight loss! The drink can often be referred to as the “Immortal Health Elixir”. It originated in China around 2,000 years ago. The drink contains vinegar, B vitamins, enzymes, probiotics, and a high concentration of acid.
However, the recipe is simple to make, it does require some equipment. To make Kombucha, you will need a dehydrated kombucha tea starter culture. You can get one here. If you already have one, you will then need:
- Quart sized jar
- Stirring utensil
- Paper Coffee Filter
- Rubber band or canning jar ring
You can always buy a kit to start off, keep in mind. The ingredients you will need are purified water, White Sugar, Tea bags, Starter tea or distilled white vinegar. You will also need a Kombucha Scoby. It is very important to use distilled, white vinegar to ensure appropriate acidic environment. I got this recipe from Culturesforhealth.com. Here are the ratio of ingredients you will need.
One-Quart Batch:
- 1½ teaspoon loose tea OR 2 tea bags
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2-3 cups water
- ½ cup starter tea or vinegar
Half-Gallon Batch:
- 1 tablespoon loose tea OR 4 tea bags
- ½ cup sugar
- 6-7 cups water
- 1 cup starter tea or vinegar
Gallon Batch:
- 2 tablespoons loose tea OR 8 tea bags
- 1 cup sugar
- 13-14 cups water
- 2 cups starter tea or vinegar
Instructions:
- Combine hot water and sugar in a glass jar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. The water should be hot enough to steep the tea but does not have to be boiling.
- Place the tea or tea bags in the sugar water to steep.
- Cool the mixture to 68-85ºF. The tea may be left in the liquid as it cools or removed after the first 10-15 minutes. The longer the tea is left in the liquid, the stronger the tea will be.
- Remove the tea bags or completely strain the loose tea leaves from the liquid.
- Add starter tea from a previous batch to the liquid. If you do not have starter tea, distilled white vinegar may be substituted.
- Add an active kombucha SCOBY.
- Cover the jar with a tight-weave towel or coffee filter and secure with a rubber band.
- Allow the mixture to sit undisturbed at 68-85°F, out of direct sunlight, for 7-30 days, or to taste. The longer the kombucha ferments, the less sweet and more vinegary it will taste.
- Pour kombucha off the top of the jar for consuming. Retain the SCOBY and enough liquid from the bottom of the jar to use as starter tea for the next batch.
- The finished kombucha can be flavored and bottled, if desired, or enjoyed plain.