Well, first is hot tea, then cold brew, and now, here I am, with Kombucha. Kombucha is a fermented tea that has the taste of soda, with gas inside. But different to soda, which contains a lot of sugar and generally unhealthy to consume large amount, Kombucha is super healthy and you can drink everyday without worrying about gaining weight or affecting your health. In contrary, your stomach will thank you for that, because of all the active bacteria inside Kombucha that helps your digesting system.
I have started the process about a week ago, but until now do I write a post about it, because I don't know if it's a success or not.
And until now, I still don't know :'D But the Kombucha is Kombucha-ing and I think in one or two more weeks, I will have my first Kombucha everrrr.
Let me walk you through the process of making Kombucha:
Ingredients
All you need are: 4 Black tea bags, 100g Sugar , 1600ml Water, and a 250ml of Raw Kombucha.
You don't have to worry about getting exactly the right amount of everything. Different websites will have different amount of ingredients, but generally, the ratio for tea and sugar is 1:10.
Clear, clear, clear,... Wait a minute, what is raw Kombucha???
You can buy raw Kombucha in a Bio Supermarket, or any supermarket that has a variety of organic products. The difference between raw Kombucha and "not raw" Kombucha (well, I mean any Kombucha that doesn't have the word 'raw' on the label), is that raw Kombucha has a living culture inside the bottle, which means that it hasn't been pasteurised (a jargon for killing bacteria by heating). If you buy a not-raw Kombucha, you will never be able to make Kombucha, because all the needed bacteria inside is dead. That's why you need a bottle of raw Kombucha.
But can I make Kombucha from scratch?
Yes you can, but it's likely that your Scoby (a word for the "house of the bacteria" that acts as a starter of your fermentation, here, Kombucha) will never form, or will be damaged, or turns to a new thing. It will take a lot of time with no certainty, that's why I think it's better to get a starter (Raw Kombucha) to start your fermentation.
Okay okay, let's go!
First, you boil the tea, add sugar, and let it steep for 5 minutes and take the tea bags out (you don't want to oversteep it, making the tea bitter).
Wait until the tea is cooled down completely to room temperature (it's very important, as you don't want to kill the bacteria with scalding hot water!).
In the meantime, prepare the jar that you are going to use for your Kombucha, preferably a 4-liter jar. You will need to sterilise it without using any soaps – pouring hot water and vinegar inside, shake and let it rest for 15 minutes before rinsing everything out. Never use soap because even just a tiny amount of soap, it will kill Kombucha completely.
When the tea has cooled down, put it in the jar, add raw Kombucha into it, cover it with coffee filter paper and a rubber (I don't use cloth, especially cheese cloth, because the fruitflies can still penetrate into the jar and ruin the tea). It's important to note that never completely close the jar. Bacteria needs to breathe, eat, and reproduce, so leave air for them!
Then you leave the Kombucha untouched in a cupboard, away from sunlight but still has an airflow, for around 2 or 3 weeks, and, with a proper process, will get you your first Scoby!
You can occasionally check your fermentation by smelling it, if it smells like Vinegar, it's doing good, if it smells bad, maybe mold has been formed or your bacterias are dead, and you will need to start everything again. However, if you cover the jar correctly, sterilise the jar properly, you use Raw Kombucha, then it's likely to grow healthily.
The next step is called "First Fermentation", in which you will make your first Kombucha tea (mind you that the step I have written above is only to make Scoby, your starter for Kombucha) and as I haven't reached this step yet, I post here a link to a very good Kombucha recipe for you to read further!
JLSee you soon!
