Brew Your Own Booch (Kombucha)! Pt.1

March 8, 2019

Happy Friday friends!! Has anyone else had a lasting obsession with kombucha?? I definitely have! I started drinking kombucha about 6 years ago because it was one of those drinks at the store that always had interesting flavors (guava, ginger, chai…who wouldn’t be intrigued??) and it was tasty. It wasn’t until I had been drinking it pretty consistently for about 6 months that I found out about all of the health benefits. The main appeal to kombucha is that it’s a natural probiotic and tastes amazing! Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are super good for your gut and kombucha is a rich source of them. That bacteria and yeast can help with digestion, inflammation and provide antioxidants. For years, I always drank store bought kombucha until I went to a friends house a few years ago and was offered homemade kombucha. So, of course, I was quick to jump on that train 😊 I’ve been brewing my own booch for about 3 years now. I love it because it saves money, if you’re a regular booch drinker, tastes good and gets those creative juices flowing (coming up with different flavor combos and what not!!). Soooo, enough chit chat. If you’d like to learn how to brew your own kombucha too, keep reading!

First, you need to get your hands on a SCOBY. SCOBY stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast and this is what’s going to ferment your tea. Here are a few ways you can get one:

1. Sharing is caring! If you have a friend who brews kombucha, ask them for one of theirs and a little starter tea. A new SCOBY grows every time a batch of booch is brewed, so your friend probably has a few to spare.
2. Buy one. There are a lot of online stores that sell SCOBY’s. I have seen a couple that will send it to you alive, but a lot are dehydrated and will require rehydrating before they can be used to brew with.
3. Grow your own! This is my favorite way to do it. I’ve grown two SCOBY’s and it’s really fun. Kinda like a little science project! I’ll tell you at the end of this post how to do this.

The second thing you’ve got to do is brew some sweet tea. Super easy right?! I use a Takeya 2-quart pitcher for this. This pitcher is great for brewing large batches of tea and it makes the whole process fast and easy because you can pour in hot water and brew the tea directly in the pitcher. I don’t drink kombucha every day, so I only make 1-quart of tea. I’ll link up everything I use for this below too. For a young SCOBY, you’ll want to use black tea. After a few batches you can experiment with other types of tea, but it has to be caffeinated and organic is best. Steep 3-4 tea bags in the hot water for about 3 minutes (or follow package instructions). Once the tea is done steeping, fish out the tea bags and set them aside. I like to squeeze them out once they cool down. Add ¼ cup of organic cane sugar into the tea and stir until it dissolves. Then we wait. The sweet tea needs to come to room temp. before we can combine it with the SCOBY.

Ok, finally, your going to need something to brew your kombucha in and something to cover it with. Large glass jars are commonly used. The important thing is to make sure that the material you use for your brewing vessel is non-corrosive. I use a gallon sized mason jar. To ferment the tea, your SCOBY needs oxygen, so you want to make sure that whatever you use to cover your jar with is breathable, but won’t let foreign objects in. I use a square cutout from a thin cotton towel and a rubber band to hold it in place. Coffee filters are also great. Once you’ve got those items, pour your sweet tea into your jar, along with a ½ cup of starter liquid (unflavored kombucha from the last batch your SCOBY made or the liquid it comes with if bought) and gently place your SCOBY on top. Cover it with your cloth or coffee filter (make sure you secure the cover with a rubber band or string) and let it sit, out of direct sunlight, for 1 week to 1 month. The more vinegary you like your booch, the longer you want to let it ferment. Once it’s done fermenting, you can ladel out all the goodness, save a heaping ½ cup, into a flip top bottle. Refrigerate or add flavoring (I’ll talk about this in another post). Now, you can start the process all over again or just brew one to two cups of sweet tea and feed it to your SCOBY to keep it busy for a couple weeks.

How to Grow a SCOBY:

Ok this is ridiculously easy! The hardest part is the wait lol. Ok so, first, follow the second step above to brew a batch of sweet black tea. Then, while the sweet tea is cooling, head to the grocery store and buy a bottle of unflavored kombucha. You’ll also need the items I talked about in the third step. Pour your sweet tea into your jar and add half a bottle of the unflavored kombucha (you can drink the rest 😊). Now you’ll just need to wait two weeks to a month for your SCOBY to grow. Once it’s about ¼ an inch thick, it’s good to go! Side note: your SCOBY will get thicker with time and will produce a new SCOBY every time you brew booch.  

Products I use:

• Takeya Pitcher
• Black Tea
• Sugar
• Mason Jar
• Cotton Cloth (similar)
• Kombucha (if growing your Scoby)
• Flip Top Bottles

And that’s how it’s done!! Brewing your own booch can seem really intimidating, but I promise you its sooo easy. Also, quick disclaimer: I’m not a booch brewing expert. This is just what I do and if you think your SCOBY looks off or if you notice mold growing, please toss the SCOBY and the tea and, sadly yes, start over. I would recommend looking at some pictures of healthy SCOBY’s first though, because the first time you brew, everything looks off haha. I hope this was helpful and happy brewing!!

xoxo

Amber