Kombucha Recipes

What I learned at the Fermenting Class

Last Thursday I attended a Fermenting Class held at the PCC Market in Isssaquah, Wa.  PCC is a lot like Whole Foods, plus they have a great kitchen/demonstration classroom.  The teacher was from Denmark and really knew her stuff.  She’s been making all kinds of fermented foods for as long as she can remember.  She started the class off by giving us the basics of fermenting, which was very interesting.  But, I was anxious to learn about making kombucha! 

If you don't know about kombucha it is a fermented tea that is rich in amino-acids, probiotics, antioxidants, trace minerals, B vitamins and more.  It has a bubbly, natural effervescence   It's roots are in ancient China, the recipe traveled to Ruissa and finally made it to the US in the 70's. Today is has become very popular because of it's gut healing properties. I've been drinking it daily for a few months and I know it has helped with my digestion and elimination.  Much better than taking probiotic pills.

Now, back to the class. She finally started the actual demonstration. There was a  tray with several bottles of kombucha onto the counter.  She started pouring it into glasses and two assistants started passing it out. Each of us got a good size glass. It was sharp, bitter, yet sweet.  It tasted better than the store bought.  Her experience showed.  She began to explain the process and explained it to us step-by-step.

Here are recipes.  To make kombucha you have to use sugar and black tea.  The sugar gets used up in the fermenting process and the caffeine in the tea is minimal. She warned us to always use glass containers and wooden utensils.  No metal!

Kombucha Tea 

1/4 cup organic sugar
3 cups hot water
2 black tea bags
1/2 cup kombucha from another batch
1 Mother Culture/Scoby 

Add sugar, hot water and back tea bags in a glass jar.  Let it stream, covered, until it reaches room temperature. Remove tea bags and add 1/2 cup kombucha from previous batch. Add the Mother Culture/Scoby and cover with a coffee filter or cloth and secure with a rubber band. 

Let sit for from 7-30 days, depending on how sour you want your tea.  Normally it is best after 2-2 1/2 weeks. A good temperature is 70 degrees. Haze or while spots may form and they are okay, but green, black or orange colors  forming on the Scoby are not. The Mother will become brown from the fermentation process.  Every time you make a new batch of kombucha it creates a new Mother Culture/Scoby, which you can give away or use to make two new brewings in separate jars.

If you don’t have a Mother Culture/Scoby here is how to make one. 

Making you own Mother Culture/Scoby 

1/4 c organic sugar
2 cups of hot water
2 black tea bags
1 16 oz bottle store bought kombucha 

Add sugar, hot water and black tea to a glass jar.  Let it steam until it reaches room temperature. Keep covered.  Remove tea bags and mix in store-bought kombucha.  Let it sit at room temperature covered with a coffee filter or cloth, secured with a rubber band until it forms a Mother. (The mother is a thick coating that will form on the top of the tea.) Remove the scoby and save the liquid to use in making kombucha.  It may take 7 - 30 days to form. 

After she went through the process of making kombucha from a scoby, she told us she had another way to make it that was easier and quicker.  Of course we were all interested in that! Once she explained the process a couple of times it finally sunk in and we could see the beauty of this method.  Here is what she told us.

Quick Kombucha 

1 16 oz bottle of store-bought kombucha (1/2 cup in each bottle)
1 32 oz bottle of organic juice - no sugar added (1 cup in each bottle)
4 qt-size jars with lids 

Divide the bottle of store-bought kombucha into four glass jars.  Divide the juice equally into each jar.  Fill the rest of the jars with water.  Put on lid and set on the counter for 2-7 days or until it is done.  Test it for taste and fermentation.  It’s done when it has some bubbliness and it tastes good to you. You can then use some of this batch to create the next batch.  You will never have to buy kombacha again or use a Mother Culture/Scoby.

I made the Quick Kombocha the next day and I have the jars sitting on the counter.  I am anxious to see how they turn out in a few days.

It was a good class and I learned a lot.  I feel totally comfortable trying to make it now without any concern about the process.  Even making the Mother.  The cost savings is high.  Store bought kombucha cots about $3 a bottle. Making it yourself is practically nothing.  Just the cost of tea bags and sugar. Quite a savings, especially if you are drinking it everyday.

There are lots of great websites where you can learn more.  Here are a few:

I Quit Sugar

The Kitchen

Whole Life Eater

Or, you could check out the following books:

Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandra Ellix Katz.

Fermented: A Four-Season Approach to Paleo Probiotic Foods by Jill Ciciarelli