How to Make Kombucha Tea

Posted on March 6, 2013 by rachel

It’s bubbly, semi-sweet and semi-bitter, and good for your tummy.
Here’s how to make your own batch. You’ll need

• a scoby (from a fellow kombucha DIY friend)
• black tea or green tea (about 1 cup or 8 tea bags, or to taste)
• lots of water
• a gallon jug
• small kombucha bottles (start saving them now, so you’ll have them when the kombucha is fermented!)
• 2 cups of already-prepared kombucha
• about 1/2 cup sugar

First, prepare the tea in the large jug, and allow to steep. Add and dissolve the sugar, then remove tea bags and leave to cool for an hour or so. Enter the scoby into the cooled tea using clean hands (don’t get bacteria into the scoby or the mixture). Add the 2 cups of prepared kombucha to get it started.
Cover it with a cheesecloth or paper towel held around the jar top by a rubber band, and leave it for 7-14 days. Taste it after 7 days and see how it is. If you like it sweeter, it may be ready; if you want it to be more bitter, let it keep on fermenting.
Once it’s ready, gently slide out the scoby onto a clean plate. Using a funnel with a filter, pour the ‘bucha into bottles (glass bottles with a plastic cap are best) leaving about a half-inch at the top for the liquid to expand with bubbles, and set in refrigerator to carbonate for about three days–but use one of them immediately to make the next batch of kombucha. Try different teas, and in the bottles you can add flavoring like chopped fruit, juice, ginger, honey, or whatever you think of. Enjoy!