This post has been many, many months in the making because 1. I am perfectionist who likes to fully understand what I am doing and get a consistent product and 2. I never felt like an expert in the kombucha process so I was a little uncomfortable giving this information to others. But, enough people have asked me my process in person recently that a blog post has become the way to go.

If you are reading this and asking yourself “what is kombucha?” Wikipedia is always a good place to start. All you really need to know is that kombucha is a fermented tea and needs 3 components: black and/or green tea (which of course has water in it), sugar, and the SCOBY/starter. SCOBY stands for a “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast” and no real other description is necessary. It is a mass of bacteria and yeast which feeds on the sugar and ferments the tea. It is also what Mr. Physics calls the “Alien Flan”. If you have ever actually touched a SCOBY you might know why. It kind of feels like a condensed, slippery flan.

I always enjoyed a bottle of kombucha here and there especially because I love acidic and tart flavors. But store bought kombucha is expensive and I could never really justify the habit. Then about 6 months ago I started talking to my friend who works for a company that studies the gut microbiome about how much she was drinking it and how good they were finding it was for your gut and body. She wondered if she could make it at home and how easy it was and that jump started my research into it.

Making your own kombucha is actually pretty easy but it takes time. Not hands on time per se but days of waiting time. Here are the steps I take to make my kombucha. Note that there are many different ways of doing this and if my method doesn’t suite you try another that works! I use what I believe is called the “continuous method” because it works best for me. I got this method mostly from Deannacat3 on Instagram. She has a lot of helpful information under #deannakombucha.

1. Creating the SCOBY

There are 3 common ways to do this:

1. Get a SCOBY from a friend or buy it from someone online. You can use a live or dehydrated SCOBY to make yours! If you can get SCOBY tea too, bonus!
2. Buy a starter kit online. There are a TON on Amazon. I can’t speak to any of them though as I did not use one.
3. Use a purchased UNFLAVORED kombucha tea – no but seriously you need to use unflavored and ideally pick a bottle with gunk at the bottom or something floating at the top. This is the bacteria and yeast you want! ^{Additional Notes}This is the processes I did. I tried a few different companies unflavored kombucha and picked the one I liked the best. I have no idea if this matters as the tea composition and fermenting time might have more to do with the flavor than the SCOBY itself but I told myself it mattered. My gut (pun totally intended) tells me that different companies do have different bacterial and yeast compositions in their SCOBY’s so this step can’t hurt anyway.

Once you have picked your way it is time to make your tea and get this SCOBY party started! (If you choose #2 I would follow the directions of the kit)

Growing a SCOBY

The process I used was a combination of The Kitchn and Cultures for Health.

1 cup of unflavored kombucha of choice/starter tea and/or live or dehydrated SCOBY
2 cups water
1 teaspoon loose leaf black tea OR 1 black tea bag
1 tablespoon sugar

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
2. Remove from heat add tea bag/leaves and sugar and stir until sugar dissolves.
3. Allow tea mixture to cool until it reaches room temperature.
4. Remove tea leaves (bags or loose) from tea mixture and pour into a quart jar. Put unflavored kombucha/starter tea/SCOBY in with tea.
5. Cover jar with tight weave towel, coffee filter, or other breathable (but doesn’t have holes big enough to let in fruit flies) fabric then tighten with a rubber band.
6. Place in warm location, out of sunlight.
7. After a week begin to check on SCOBY formation at the top of the jar! If you see nothing in 3 weeks then discard and try again.
8. Allow SCOBY to grow over the entire top surface of the jar and gain a good thickness. Once it has, it is ready to brew with. For me this took a little over a month to happen.

Once you have your SCOBY and the tea mixture you are ready to start making Kombucha!

Making Kombucha with the Continuous Method

The process I used was a combination of The Kitchn and DeannaCat3.

2. Making the tea and first fermentation (F1)

14 cups water – I use filtered that has been resting 24 hours
1 tablespoon black tea leaves
1 tablespoon green tea leaves
1 cup sugar
2 cups tea starter
SCOBY

1. Added 14 cups of water to a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and dissolve in sugar. Add in tea leaves/bags, stir and let sit until mixture reaches room temperature. Once at room temperature remove tea bags. Note: for my tea leaves I have a reusable cloth tea bag which I love and highly suggest if you plan to make kombucha a lot.
3. Remove 2 cups of “tea starter” from previously brewed batch of kombucha, or from jar with SCOBY starter above if it is your first batch, then add into cooled tea
4. Pour mixture back into large jar or drink dispenser (I use this one as it is glass and has a metal spigot). If it is your first ever batch using the continuous method or you are using the per batch method – add in SCOBY.
5. Cover with tight weave cloth and tighten with rubber band then place in warm location out of direct sunlight and wait! I keep mine on the counter in a corner and cover the sides with a towel. Make sure the top can breathe.

Notes:
Since I use the continuous method, I do not have to add my SCOBY each time. The way the continuous method works is you use a jar with a spigot and rather than placing the SCOBY in the jar you remove the previously fermented kombucha from the bottom then add the new batch of tea to the top (aka you CONTINUOUSLY use the same jar over and over). If you use this method you also don’t necessarily need to add 2 cups of tea starter. You can instead leave 2 cups in the bottom of the dispenser to mix with the new tea when you add it.

If the SCOBY gets a little stuck, which will happen because it moves down the jar as you remove liquid, you can reach in a clean knife or other article to loosen it to move up. Do not worry if it doesn’t return to the top, it doesn’t need to. Mine usually returns to the top by the next time I check it but, if it is the first batch you are making, the starter SCOBY might hang out at the bottom. That is ok, look for activity of new SCOBY formation at the top. Also see those strings and bubbles on the picture above? That is good news, that means happy SCOBY!

If the SCOBY gets a couple inches thick, take it out and remove the bottom half, then return the top half to the dispenser. Make sure to thoroughly clean your hands before handling( or some people say wear gloves). I usually wash my hands then run a little of my kombucha or some vinegar over them before touching the SCOBY.

I used a small quart jar to make my SCOBY so when I started my kombucha in the big dispenser below it took a while for the bigger SCOBY on the top to form. It took a couple batches for it to happen and I was careful to remove not a ton of kombucha each time to not disrupt its formation. You can actually see my smaller starter SCOBY in the jar at the bottom if you look closely to the picture on the left. Once the SCOBY on the top was a good size I removed the starter SCOBY and started a SCOBY hotel with it (aka store it separately from my continuos brew and occasionally feed it to maintain it).

3. Testing the fermenting tea

The one really nice thing about the continuous method, and using a jar with a dispenser, comes into play during this step. Once your tea has hit about the 7th day of ferment, start testing it. This step is important because flavor won’t change much once you remove it from the SCOBY and put it on the second ferment (and add fruit if you choose). If it is too sweet now it will be too sweet later. This is because you need that happy yeast and bacteria to break down the sugar changing the flavor from sweet to sour. I test mine by letting a little liquid out of the spigot. Once the kombucha has reached my desired tartness it is time for the second ferment.

3. Bottling the tea and adding fruit (2nd ferment)

On the day that you plan to do the 2nd ferment, repeat the step “Making the tea, the first fermentation (F1)”. I would recommend you boil the water and add the sugar and tea in the morning and leave it out all day to cool down covered so it is room temperature when you bottle the kombucha later in the evening.

Clean out flip top bottles (or jars) with soap and water and allow to dry (these are the bottles I use). Once the bottles are dry spigot out about 12 ounces into each bottle (I put it in a measuring cup the first time to figure out where the came to on the bottle), if you plan to add fruit, or fill them all the way if you don’t. Make sure you either 1. remove 2 cups of the liquid to add back into the new tea or 2. leave about 2 cups in the bottom of the dispenser.

Now time to add the fruit or juice. Different people have different ways of doing this step. Use Real Butter just posted her kombucha recipe and process earlier this week and she let’s the fruit infuse with the kombucha in a jar for a few days and then strains it into the bottle. This is a great way to do it.

I like the pulp (and I am lazy) so I blend together whatever combination I am doing and add it directly to the bottle. Cultures for Health has a great guide to get you started on how much of each flavoring to put in the bottles. I tend to do about 3 fluid ounces of fruit puree per bottle, 2 fluid ounces if I am mixing with another herb or ginger. If the fruit is hard to blend in a pourable state I will add a little bit of kombucha to it and make it more liquid.

Seal the bottles and store them at room temperature and out of direct sunlight (I use my pantry) for as long as it takes them to carbonate to your desired level (or you can’t wait anymore and you want to drink them!). I find the carbonation time changes based on the fruits that I put in them. I usually find it takes at least 5 days. After that I check them, IN MY SINK!!!!, once every or every other day. You begin to learn the fruit. The batch of citrus I have carbing right now still isn’t fully carbed at 7 days…cantaloupe, on the other hand, has exploded all over my kitchen when I opened it at day 7 in every batch I make…(with those I let them go for 7 days and put them straight in the fridge. The cool fridge helps reduce carbonation. I then make sure to open them in the sink with a glass ready to pour in)

Once the bottles are the carbonation level you like, put them in the fridge to cool. You can store them for a while there though I usually consume them within the week. You can either strain them before you serve them or drink the pulp.

Above are blood orange and lime ginger (though I didn’t wash the juicer between lime and blood orange so I got a nice gradient!). Below are the combinations of fruit and herbs I have tried thus far. I usually use whatever fruit I have on hand more so then planning my fruits ahead, at least in the winter. I do try to only buy what is in season (or on sale) though.

Top 3 favorite flavors:
Cantaloupe Mint – 5 mint leaves per bottle *careful cantaloupe carbs well*
Ginger – 1 ½ teaspoons of ginger grated in each bottle – ginger doesn’t have a lot of sugar so it doesn’t carb well. If you want it to carb better add in ½ teaspoon of sugar after you bottle it and invert it a few times.
Blackberry Ginger

Other flavors I have made:
Blackberry
Pineapple
Cantaloupe
Raspberry Ginger
Blood Orange
Lime Ginger
Apricot
Kiwi
Granny Smith Apple

Coming up:
Turmeric Ginger – this one will be an experiment of fresh vs powdered for both.
Pumpkin Spice – out of season right now but I have some frozen pumpkin I want to experiment with and I am running out of organic, fresh, in season fruit.

This has been such a fun and rewarding experience. I love that I have my own SCOBY and make my own komucha. I love even more that I can enjoy a bottle of kombucha for about 50 cents rather than the over $3 cost at the store! How do you brew your kombucha? What flavors should I try coming up with next? Let me know!