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📖 How to make Kombucha

📌 Simple recipe​

tip

If you are not yet familiar with the process of brewing kombucha, it's advised to first carefully read the 🔬 Detailed instructions.

🥣 Preparation​

(For a 3L container)

  1. 1L of black tea (cold brew, fridge temperature)
  2. Pour the tea into the container
  3. 0.75 L of hot water
  4. 80g of sugar
  5. Mix sugar and water (make sure that the sugar is fully dissolved)
  6. Pour the water & sugar mix into the container
  7. Add 1 cup of fermented kombucha (⚠️ unflavored!)
  8. Stir well with the whisk
  9. Add a SCOBY pellicle
  10. Fill the rest of the container with water
  11. Carefully stir again with the whisk

🧘🏻 Fermentation​

  1. Cover the container
  2. Ferment for 7 days

🍺 Enjoy​

  1. Pour kombucha into bottles for storage
  2. Put the SCOBY and 1 cup of kombucha aside
  3. Clean the container
  4. Restart a new cycle.

Bonus: 🍾 2nd fermentation​

🔬 Detailed instructions​

🪧 Introduction and prerequisites​

Brewing kombucha is very simple, yet it requires some basic knowledge and some good equipment to work with.

🛠 Equipment​

In a very minimal set up you will need:

Optionally you could use these tools for working more comfortably:

  • A funnel
  • A fine mesh food strainer
  • A scale for weighting the sugar
  • A container for mixing tea and sugar
  • A whisk
info

Visit this page to find advices on how to chose your equipment.

💡 Some general advices​

  • Always work in a very clean environment

    • Avoid dust
    • Avoid sources of mold

  • Only use organic ingredients

    • As kombucha is kind of a living organism, it is best to feed it exclusively with organic products. If you're not convinced, try both and see the difference in taste and feeling.

  • Use clean drinking water

    • If the water from you sink isn't clean (if it contains chlorine or other nasty things) it might disturb the SCOBY. Try to find a filter or another source of clean drinking water.

  • Chose a good spot for your fermentation

    • No direct sun-light
    • The air must circulate normally (avoid putting it inside of cupboard)
    • Not too cold (room temperature is perfect)
    • Not too warm

  • ❄️ Try to cold brew your tea

    • Cold brewed tea is less bitter than hot brewed tea. It is also easier to prepare and it doesn't require you to wait for the tea to cool down before you can start the fermentation.
    • You need to remeber to prepare your cold brew tea the day before you want to start a new cycle.

🥣 Start a new brewing cycle​

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These instructions are for a 3L container, if you are using a container of a different size, make the required adjustments to the quantities.

Tip for cold brewed tea ❄️

I advise you to make cold brewed tea, it is easier and it tastes better.

The instructions below are for classic hot brewed tea, if you want to make cold brewed tea, just replace the hot water with cold water and let the tea steep for a longer period (at least 8 hours). I ususally put a 1L bottle of cold brew tea into the fridge and let it steep overnight.

Check the order of the steps in the simple recipe to see how to make cold brewed kombucha. The details outlines below are for hot brewed kombucha but most of them can be applied to cold brewed kombucha too.

  1. Prepare an empty (and clean) container with

    • a SCOBY
    • 1 cup (~ 250mL) of fermented kombucha (⚠️ unflavored!)
      • The kombucha that is required here is for the SCOBY: it needs to have a minimal sense of "home feeling" so that the fermentation can start.
      • 1 cup is the minimum, if there is a bit more than that it's totally fine

  2. Make 1L of black tea

    • Use something like 3 to 4 bags of tea per Liter. Basically one bag per cup.
    • Other teas (like green tea) are also possible to use, but it is advised to start with black tea as it is the easiest.
      ⚠️Kombucha needs theine.

  3. Let the tea steep for a good while (at least 20 minutes)

    • Cold brewed teas work a well. Then obviously you will need to let it steep for a longer period.

  4. Wait that the tea is at room temperature, or do something to cool it down quickly (ice bath).

  5. Strain the tea

  6. Add 80g of sugar (per Liter)

    • Any sugar will do
    • Best is to use organic cane sugar but any source of real sugar will work even syrup, just avoid fake sugar like Stevia in the first fermentation.

    :::caution warning

    Do not use anything else than sugar to add the sweetness. The SCOBY feeds on the sugar and it cannot feed on anything else.

    :::

    :::tip (Almost) no more sugar left at the end!

    After the fermentation there will be way less sugar (and less theine too) left in the kombucha. So you are safe to drink it even if you want to avoid sugar in your diet.

    The more you wait (the longer you allow the kombucha to ferment) the less sugar and theine will be present in the final beverage.

    :::


  7. Mix the sugar and the tea

    • Use a whisk to mix the sugar into the tea and to dilute it.
    • If you have multiples batches to prepare, it is better to mix the sugar and the tea in a different container to make sure that you have exactly 1L of tea and 80g of sugar.
    • It is also possible to mix the sugar and the tea while the tea is still hot.

  8. Pour the mixed sugar and tea into the fermentation container

  9. Fill the rest of the container with water

    • Most containers have a curved border at the top. Leave the curved part empty so that the SCOBY (usually floating on at the top of the liquid) can fill out the full width of the container while it is fermenting

🧘🏻 Fermentation​

The fermentation process is the most simple one, it just requires a little bit of patience.

  1. Cover the container where you have prepared your brewing mixture. See this page for detailed advice.

    • To cover the container use a cloth, coffee filter or anything that prevents dust or insects to enter into the container while it is fermenting. The insects are attracted by CO2 produced by the fermentation. The risk of bacteria contamination is low because of the acidity of the solution. Covering the container will also reduce the (relatively low) risk of getting mold inside.

  2. Let the kombucha ferment for 7 days.

    • Chose a good spot for the fermentation process (see advices above).
    • The fermentation process usually takes around 7 days. Depending on the room temperature and other influencing factors it might take longer or be faster. So generally speaking it can take from 6 to 10 days.
    • You can taste your kombucha from time to time to check if the fermentation is over or not.
    • The fermentation tends to be faster in warmer environments.

  3. Generally speaking the fermentation process should not be disturbed or your SCOBY pellicle will not look nice. So, unless it is really necessary, just leave it alone for the 7 days to come.

  4. Sometimes the fermentation produces a lot of gas. When that happens, the SCOBY might get lifted into the air by a big bubble of gas. It is good to pop out that bubble to let the SCOBY touch the liquid. So if necessary release that bubble once or twice a day. Use a clean spoon to push down the SCOBY into the liquid.

🍺 Enjoy your fresh kombucha​

Now that your kombucha has fermented, you can start a new cycle.

  1. Take out the SCOBY from the container

  2. Stir the liquid inside the container with a whisk

    • This is optional but still good to do: during the fermentation, some yeast will accumulate at the bottom of the container. This yeast is responsible for carbonation in the 2nd Fermentation and therefore you want it to be evenly distributed in the different bottles used for storage or 2nd fermentation.

  3. Pour out the fermented kombucha into bottles to store it

    • To stop (or better said slow down) the fermentation, put the bottles into your fridge or a cold spot.

  4. Put 1 cup of kombucha and the SCOBY aside (for the next cycle)

    • No need to wash the SCOBY if it looks dirty, you just might disturb its natural equilibrium.

  5. Clean the container

    • Usually no soap is required
    • If you need soap, make sure that the container is very well rinsed before reusing it.

  6. Start a new cycle.

Bonus: 🍾 2nd fermentation​