My wife expressed interest in making kombucha, which of course got me excited because it’s the closest she’s gotten to being interested in anything brewing related. So of course I pushed her through the process. We went out and got all the necessary equipment, and already had a lot of tea brewing stuff as she’s a big fan of loose leaf tea. A co-worker of mine has gotten into brewing it, so I was able to acquire a SCOBY from him.

We found a recipe online that uses 1/2 Black tea and 1/2 Green tea. Seemed like a good place to start so we brewed up half a gallon (per the recommendation of my coworker).

First we brewed the blend of black and green tea for 30 minutes, and used 1/4 cup of sugar.

After that was cooled to around 80F, we added the kombucha SCOBY and starter juice.









4 Days

After 4 days, our homemade kombucha had a good sourness and fizziness since it was still fermenting. My wife and I actually both liked it at this point, but we know if needed to go longer. Kind of like when I try my gravity samples. The sweet meads are really my favorite nowadays. Our SCOBY only started floating after 3-4 days. This is normal I guess, so don’t be alarmed if yours doesn’t float at first.

8 Days

No more fizziness as the small amount of CO2 created by the yeast has precipitated out of solution. We also have a new SCOBY forming on the top. We got some Pineapple juice and Apple cider to bottle this batch with. We’ll probably do a test of each when we bottle, as well as a test with a mix of both. Might be a nice experiment.

12 Days

Bottled the kombucha! I was planning on bottling at 10 days, so it did get a little more vinegary than what I would have liked, but we’ll see how it goes with some sweetness added back in. I bottled using apple cider, pineapple juice, and one with a blend of the two, at a ratio of 20% juice and 80% kombucha. After 4-5 days I’ll put them in the fridge and do a comparison to see which is the best.

What are your favorite flavor combos for your kombucha? Also favorite tea blends for kombucha?

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