Kombucha is an incredibly healthy drink that is made from black or green tea, sugar and a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast or "SCOBY"
Known as the “Immortal Health Elixir” by the Chinese and originating in the Far East around 2,000 years ago, kombucha has a lot of health benefits including immune support, improved digestion, detoxification and cleansing, weight loss and increased energy.
I got my SCOBY by posting on a community facebook page, and I had 2 lovely strangers give me one, along with a bit of starter tea from their last batch.
Ingredients:
2L boiling water (rain water is best, or purified/filtered)
2 x green or black tea bags (I use jasmine green tea)
1/2 cup sugar
1 x SCOBY
1/2 cup of starter tea
Brew your tea, dissolving the sugar inside. Wait until it has cooled, remove the tea bags then add your SCOBY and starter tea.
Leave your kombucha brewing for 7-10 days in a glass jar with a muslin cloth or tea towel over the top, fastened with a rubber band, and kept out of direct sunlight. When you come to bottle it, take 1/2 a cup of starter tea for your next batch and the scoby out, then pour through a sieve and funnel (to remove any floaty bits). Once you have bottled it you can add fresh ginger, fresh fruit like berries, or some fruit juice. This will give the kombucha flavour, and leaving it out of the fridge for a further few days will make it fizzy. It will keep in the fridge for a few weeks before it starts to turn more vinegary in flavour (but I usually drink mine before then!)
Kombucha contains b-vitamins, enzymes and these probiotics: Gluconacetobacter, Acetobacter, Lactobacillus and Zygosaccharomyces.
Always use very clean hands when handling the scoby, and make sure all your bottles have been rinsed with plain water. There will sometimes be some brown stringy bits in your brew. This is completely normal and safe, and you can remove them easily. If you see your scoby start to get mould spots, throw it out and start again with a new one.
© Copyright Anna McConnell 2015. All rights reserved.
