Kombucha

INGREDIENTS

1 SCOBY
2 tablespoons of black loose leaf tea
1 cup of sugar
1 full, 2-quart tea kettle of hot water
2 cups unflavored kombucha
(left over from previous batch or store bought)
 2 cups muddled strawberries

NOTES

+ The SCOBY doesn’t like metal. I use metal tools / bowls, but never in direct contact with the SCOBY.

+ Do not sub out the sugar. The sugar feeds the SCOBY. You will not be ingesting all of the sugar used to ferment

DIRECTIONS

Heat water in tea kettle.

In a large bowl mix sugar and tea, then add hot water.

Stir occasionally, and let the tea cool completely. I usually let it sit overnight.

Once tea is room temperature, strain.

Place the cool tea, mother SCOBY and kombucha in glass fermenting jar. Use a rubber band and and two coffee filters the secure the top of the jar.

Place the jar in a dark cool place away from the trash (to avoid fruit flies) and let ferment for seven days. If you like more of a vinegar taste, you can go up to ten days. I start tasting it on the seventh day.

Once fermented to desired taste, pull out both SCOBY (mother and new SCOBY) and place in a glass bowl along with extra kombucha for the next fermentation, approximately two cups of liquid (though I eyeball it). If you are going to brew another batch, this is when you go back to the beginning. It’s helpful to brew the tea the day before starting the second fermentation, so that it can be done all at once / you make only one mess.

Strain the liquid and divide into 3 - 4 glass bottles.

Add ¼ cup of muddled strawberries to each bottle and seal with the cap.

Keep the bottles at room temperature and “burp” them (open and close the cap) every day for 2-3 days. The longer you keep them in this phase the more bubbles you get.

Once you get your desired carbonation, strain out the strawberries and rebottle. This is optional.

Keep bottled kombucha in fridge until ready to drink!