Kombucha - Make It Yourself

Do you love kombucha? Cassie, Jess, and I all do.  Have you tried it?  It's trending and they even have GT's at my small-town Kroger now but it's $3.99 a bottle!  I've read a lot of research about how good it is for us, so I started looking into how to make it myself.

There's lots of great information out there. You might want to check out How To Make Kombucha Tea at Home - they have lots of photos and that helps when you are first starting out because it looks so weird.

I also HIGHLY recommend Kombucha Mamma over on kombuchakamp.com. She has great videos and if you don't have someone to give you a scoby or want to take the time to make your own, she is where to go. (Unless you want to swing by Crossfit Countdown - maybe I'll have one to share, right?)

I started with a scoby given to me and as I left this stranger's house with a gallon-sized Ziplock bag that looked like it held some sort of organ floating in blood........ I wondered what I was getting into!

 But, I was hooked immediately. I kept a batch going constantly, drinking what I'd bottled. I've even got a few scobys out there making kombucha in other kitchens, too, now. I'm proud of that. It's like a kombucha family-tree.  BUT, after a few months I didn't feel like my batches were strong and the new scobys were so thin each time.

 I did more research.

So, I bought a nice fat scoby from Kombucha Momma and now my kombucha is better than ever!

Ok. I use a gallon jar from Target that cost under $5.  I keep my brew on top of the fridge because it's supposed to be warm and still and safe there. My scoby seems to like it there. I'm going to get another gallon going in the next couple of weeks.

I bottle my kombucha in all those GT's bottles and I am so glad I kept them. I use Paul Newman Organic black tea bags. (usually 6-7) and 1 cup of organic sugar with filtered water.

I bottle every ten days usually unless I'm crazy-busy but then I bottle on day 9 or day 11.

I am enjoying playing with flavoring now. This current  batch is Mango Ginger and I love it! I just put one small piece of organic mango and some peeled fresh ginger, cut into match sticks into each bottle. I leave these out for 36-48 hours before I place them in the fridge. I keep them in a cooler just in CASE they might bust. - Kombucha Mamma says to do this so you contain the mess if it ever happens.... but I still can't get enough carbonation in my own batches yet to quite suit me.  I'm still working on it.

I'm enjoying Instagram conversations with PaleoFatKid about his first scoby he's making. He said he looks at it SO often and I TOTALLY understand!

I'm keeping notes so I can look back over what I tried and what I liked.

Next, I'm making blackberry ginger.

I want to figure out and try to make a PUMPKIN KOMBUCHA. If you know how to do that, please share.

The best part of making your own kombucha is how fresh and nutritious it is. Or, maybe it's the creative outlet that it gives me. It could be that since I make it myself, I can drink all I want!$!$!