Kombucha is tea fermented by a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast that looks kind of like a mushroom top and feels like rubber. Not everyone is a fan of kombucha. It smells like vinegar and can taste just as sour, but the more cultured (ha) of us love it. If you are one of these, you have noticed how quickly the money drains from your wallet when you buy it bottled in the store.
I can't corroborate the health claims that kombucha energizes, detoxifies, supports a healthy digestive and immune system, has anti-aging properties, promotes tissue and blood alkalinity, or normalizes homeostasis throughout the body, but it does make me feel good in a healthy, clean way, and I actually like the taste when it's done right.
So, here's how I make it. Or, in other words, how to do it right.
Preparation.
First, you will have acquired a large glass jar. Glass - not plastic, not metal. (See above). The bigger, the better, I say. My jar holds about 2L. This is a good size to sate the needs of one regular kombucha drinker. Ikea used to have such jars. You can also likely find such things at Costco, although there you will have needed first to eat an obscene amount of something prior to the jar's being available for kombucha brewing.
Next, you will have befriended someone who is already brewing kombucha and can give you a culture. I recommend myself for this. Once you express your interest in brewing kombucha, you friend will deliver to you a culture in a (likely smaller) glass jar of its own. It will be living in its fermented tea. If you have completed this step prior to step one, you may store your new pet in the refrigerator for a few days until such time as you are able to progress with your brewing.
Brewing.
You can think of your kombucha culture as an acid-loving goldfish whose water you like to drink. Your culture is alive. It is your new pet. Your kombucha mushroom pet does not like to share its tea with chlorine or other microbes. Therefore, you will take the pot in which you will brew your tea and fill it with water ONE DAY BEFORE you intend to start the actual tea brewing (2L water for 2L tea). You will leave this pot of water on the counter UNCOVERED for the next 24 hours. This will allow chlorine and various other minerals dissolved in your tap water to evaporate.
The next day, you will relocate your pot of water (now with less chlorine) to the stove where you will bring it to a boil, also UNCOVERED. Boiling kills any living things residing in your water as well as encouraging more of those minerals to evaporate. It also heats up your water for the tea brewing. Yes, it will take longer to boil. When the water starts to bubble, you will dissolve in it about 1/2 cup granulated white sugar (1/2c sugar for 2L tea - or 1c sugar per gallon). Not honey, not brown sugar - your kombucha wants to eat glucose, not molasses, not fructose and whatever other acids are in honey. When your sugar is fully dissolved in a nice rolling boil, turn off the heat.
You will now choose three to four bags of tea to steep in your 2L sugar water (6 bags for 1G tea) and add them to the pot. (Yes, some water will have evaporated during boiling. This is art, not science). You will use black, green or white tea. You will not use herbal tea. Your kombucha is interested in the caffeine and has no interest in exposing itself to the mystery of herbal tea. I recommend floral black/green/white teas. Jasmine green tea is a personal favorite. I have also done well with rose black tea or a peony white tea, &c., for example. You will be tempted to try Earl Grey tea because you have it in your cupboard. Luckily, I have already attempted this and can inform you that the kombucha tea you brew will taste foul. Earl Grey kombucha is available commercially; it tastes similarly foul. Oil of Bergamot is not a flavour that sits well with vinegary kombucha. That is the definitive truth.
You will now allow your kombucha to come to room temperature. Would you put your goldfish in boiling water? You would not. Do not cook your kombucha culture. You will wait for the tea to come to room temperature. This will take hours. Find something to do. If you must, you may steep your tea in the refrigerator. It will cool faster, but it will still take hours. It is ok if your tea is colder than room temperature.
Fermentation.
And now, the coup de grâce. You will rinse out your large glass jar. You will pour your sweet tea into the jar. Then, you will pour some of the liquid your kombucha baby has been living in into the jar, add the culture itself, and then pour a little more of its old tea on top. This is to keep some of the acidic environment it is used to.
You will cover the top of your jar with a paper towel and secure it with a rubber band or length of string. You can find something else to use your cheese cloth for. Use a paper towel. Cheese cloth lets too much through. Do not seal the jar - your kombucha needs to breathe.
Find a nice cool spot out of the sun and away from plant debris, living things, or whatever else you have in your kitchen and let your tea ferment until it tastes good to you. The longer you wait, the stronger it will get as your culture consumes the sugar in the tea, but if you wait too long, it will start to turn bitter. I like the way mine tastes after about 8 or 9 days, but this will vary with temperature and personal preference. I would say 7-12 days is normal, though.
Carbonation.
When you were acquiring your large glass jar in which to brew you kombucha, you will also have acquired some sealable glass bottles like this ---> Pour the kombucha tea into your sealable glass bottle(s), keeping enough liquid in your original jar to cover the kombucha culture (~2-3" of liquid). Most of your kombucha yeast-bacteria will live in its mushroom colony, but some will be floating about at the top and bottom of the jar. Try to get as little of this in the bottle as possible. Some will get in. This can be a good thing. 2L tea usually produces ~750mL bottled tea with some left over, which you can seal in a smaller bottle if you like.
You will have noticed at the grocery store that the better brands of kombucha have fruity flavours and you will want to make fruity flavoured kombucha yourself. If you feel compelled to make fruit flavoured kombucha, you will add fruit juice to your bottle now, as you will have left some extra space when decanting the tea into your bottle. You will under no circumstances add fruit juice to the jar with your kombucha mushroom. Would you pour juice into your goldfish bowl? You would not. Stroll the grocery store for kombucha juice flavour ideas. I like to use pomegranate or pomegranate-lime juice because it's nice and thin. It will not even occur to you to use a thick, pulpy juice because the thought of mixing it with your kombucha disgusts you.
To get a nice fizz, you will leave your bottled tea out on the counter for another week while you brew the next batch of kombucha. (Now is a good time to start again with your next batch). Keeping the bottled tea at room temperature encourages whatever strands of kombucha escaped into your bottle to consume any additional sugar in the tea. However, because the bottle is sealed, the gas produced will carbonate your tea.
Chilling.
Kombucha undeniably tastes better cold, so you will move your bottle of carbonated tea to the refrigerator once it's had a chance to work up a good bit of carbonation out on the counter. It will still carbonate further in the refrigerator, but much more slowly. Better to give it a kick start out on the counter.
Enjoy.
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Q&A, mostly A
Yes, you should move your culture and its remaining tea to a glass bowl and rinse the jar with water prior to pouring in your second batch of room temperature sweet tea.
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No, mold on your kombucha culture is not a good. Kombucha is not cheese; it should not have mold. Compost or toss out your baby. Your friend undoubtedly has another kombucha baby you can have. Or, if you've made a few batches you may well have a spare baby yourself.
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Your kombucha baby is getting particularly thick and sort of splitting into two disks because it has grown too big to live as a single colony. Half-ish of your culture has decided to strike out on its own and form a new colony, not unlike the ways bees form a new hive when their colony is too populous. Get used to this. Your baby will reproduce just about every two weeks. Keep the fresher, whiter colony for brewing your tea and compost or save your spare older colonies in the refrigerator. You will of course cover any saved cultures in their tea and keep them in a jar covered with paper towel. Every once in a blue moon your friends will ask you for one of these cultures so that they can start brewing tea of their own. You will be grateful. You will be even more grateful when they kill a few yeast babies getting started so that you can offload more than one.
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Yes, you can store your kombucha culture in its jar in the refrigerator while you go on vacation. The cooler temperature will slow its metabolism down, but make it a fresh batch of sugar tea first so that it doesn't starve.
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