I know I’ve been promising this post for oh-so-long. I wanted to make sure this was the real deal before I extolled its virtues. And my conclusion? It is! It is! We’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, and have been exposed to lots and lots of nasty germies, and so far, knock wood, we’ve avoided the nasty.

So here is a basic outline of what kombucha is and its health benefits.

Another reason why I like it is I am growing this out of THIN AIR. And we know how much I like that! Just like the stinky cheese bread.

So, to start, I have to warn you not to be afraid. A kombucha scoby is kinda gross looking. They call it a mushroom. It does look like a giant portabello mushroom. And it grows and makes more mushrooms. They call the main scoby a “mother” and the little babies it grows are the “babies”. And this mother makes a LOT of babies.

So, to start, brew some tea. Either green or black. DO NOT use flavored teas, and make sure it is organic. That is important. I brew 2 liters of tea per batch. I put in 4 bags. Then I add about 1 cup of organic sugar per batch. Don’t freak out about sugar. The scoby eats the sugar and that is how it grows and makes the effervescence of the kombucha. The sugar pretty much goes away. Then top it off with another 1 liter of water. If you are starting from an old batch, add a little of the kombucha from that batch. If it is brand-spanking new, add a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, that gives it a jump start. Let it cool to room temp before you put in your scoby.

Tea brewed and ready to add scoby. Left is green tea, right is black.

Add in the scoby, icky looking!:

Then cover them with a cloth or I use folded paper towels. Secure with a rubber band. This keeps dust and bugs out. Fruit flies LOVE this stuff. Then they go night-night for about a week or week and a half in the kombucha drawer.

Then you end up with this! Mmmmm kombucha!~

I am brewing the kombucha in beer pitchers. The scoby needs surface area to grow, and I wanted a container with a spout for easy pouring. Beer pitchers! Perfect!

Kombucha comes out fizzy, sort of like champagne — maybe more like a favorite wine of mine: Mateus. If you bottle it, and cap it, it will get very fizzy, and when you go to open the cap it will explode and hit the ceiling and your entire kitchen will be covered in sticky kombucha. Don’t ask me how I know this.

Now, where do you get a scoby to do this? Well, if you live by me, let me know I’ll let you have one of my babies   But, what I did was buy some kombucha from the health food store. I poured it out into a saucer, covered with a towel and let it sit for a week. Voila! It grew a little scoby of its own. Cool! That tiny little scoby grew into all the scobies above. Neat – huh?

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