You need to start with one scobie, a baby kombucha pad.
I have several favorite recipes but the sky is the limit. At first glance you may feel overwhelmed but after your first few batches you will get the hang of it and be thrilled with your results! Bring to a pot luck, serve with dinner or dessert, keep it all to yourself or host a Kombucha tasting party in your neighborhood.

Coconut Vanilla

Ingredients

  • 1 gallon glass jar, I use old olive or pickle jars from a local pub
  • 1 gallon filtered water,
  • 4-5 tea bags of The Republic of Tea, Vanilla Coconut White Tea
  • 2 raw vanilla pods, sliced down the middle
  • 1 ½ cup raw sugar, sucanat

Processing

1.Boil water with tea bags and vanilla pods for 10 minutes or simmer for 20

2. Allow to cool, when still warm add the sugar and stir well

3. When completely cooled, stir well, removed pods and tea bags with a slotted spoon.

4. Pour into 1 gallon glass jar

5. Cut cheese cloth to fit over top

6. Cut old clean cotton t-shirt or pillow case to fit over top

7. Place cheese cloth and then cotton cloth over top and secure with large rubber band around mouth of jar

8. Keep in semi dark to dark place, like a cabinet or pantry.

9. The size of your scobie and air temperature will determine how fast your kombucha will ferment so keep checking. If you have only one new scobie count on about 2 weeks. The scobie will grow, meaning the pad will produce multiple layers. The thicker it is the quicker it ferments. Eventually you cangently peel off a pad and share it with a friend.

10. You want the drink to be sour and slightly sweet, even a little fizzy. If it tastes like sweet tea it isn’t ready. If it tastes like pure vinegar it has gone too long and needsto be double fermented. You do this by dissolving 1 ½ cups sugar into 2 cups warm water then add to the vinegar liquid with the kombucha culture and allow it to ferment again. This time check it sooner.

11. When you harvest the liquid always leave a little remaining, just covering your pad. When you bottle the liquid you harvested add a pinch of sugar before you cap it tightly and place in the fridge. You can skip the sugar pinch and drink immediately but the pinch will give it some added fizz in a few days.

Enjoy morning or night, before, during or after meals!

Pomegranate

Ingredients

  • ¾ gallon or 3 ½ quarts filtered water
  • 4-5 tea bags of The Republic of Tea Pomegranate Green Tea
  • 1 8oz bottle of pure pomegranate juice
  • 1 cup raw sugar, sucanat

Processing

1. Cook and cool the tea, adding sugar when it’s still warm.

2. Follow the same processing directions above but this time add the pomegranate juice directly into the jar with the scobie, do not cook the juice

Ginger Hibiscus

Ingredients

  • 1 gallon filtered water
  • 4-5 tea bags of Tazo Passion Herbal tea (warning this has licorice in it so if you are TH1 dominant avoid this one.)
  • 4-5 sliced of ginger about ½ inch thick each

Variation:

Cook pure Hibiscus flowers (found dry in bulk sections of herb and health food stores), in muslin bag or simply strain out of tea. You can also leave in Kombucha but I tend to rotate flavors and don’t always like lingering flowers in a following batch.

Processing

1. Process same as above and remove chunks of ginger just as you removed the vanilla pods and tea bags.

Bon Appetit!