My first experience of kombucha was at a vegan restaurant event for food bloggers in Birmingham. I quite liked the taste, although my plus one on that occasion was less keen on it. I’d taken the odd glass since then, but I’ve never drunk kombucha on a regular basis until very recently.
Freshly Fermented got in touch and asked me to try out making my own kombucha with one of their kits. Whilst I was waiting for my own to brew, I could drink some of their ready made kombucha. Freshly Fermented offer the largest selection of organic & vegan fermented food cultures in the UK. I was sent one of their organic kombucha starter kits to try.
The kit
In the organic kombucha starter kits there is everything you need to start fermenting. To be honest you don’t need anything else at all really: the ingredients are all there, as are all the utensils. There’s no danger of you not having the right tools for the job. The kit comes with a high quality Kilner jar for fermenting in, plus some glass bottles for your produce. The remainder of the utensils are plastic (a stirrer, funnel, measuring jug and strainer), but of good quality and they were the right size for the job too. As well as your ‘hardware’ you’ll get sugar, tea and the magic ingredient: your scoby with starter tea. The instructions are on the website and you can either read them online or print them off (they print off nicely: no odd words on a separate sheet or any margin problems).
Making kombucha
Getting your kombucha started takes a couple of hours in total. Just to be clear this isn’t because there’s a lot of work, but you do have to wait for the mixture to cool down and I found that was the most time consuming part of it. The actual work is only a few minutes in total. First you heat up your sugar and water mixture – this only took a few minutes on the hob in a saucepan. I did use a meat thermometer to check the temperatures, but it’s not essential. Next you add tea leaves and let your tea brew. I did this for 15 minutes, but you can go for a stronger brew if you prefer. It’s a good idea to set a reminder on your phone or use a kitchen timer, so as not to overdo it.
Then strain off the tea leaves and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature – this is where the waiting comes in, but obviously there’s no need to sit there watching it, you can just get on with whatever you want. I was surprised how long it took to get the temperature back down. Then you transfer your mixture to the kilner jar and add the scoby with starter tea. You close the lid and leave for five days (or a bit longer if you prefer).
Obviously, I knew I would have to wait to try my kombucha, but you can buy kombucha drinks to tide you over till your brew is ready. Alternatively, some will prefer just to buy the drink and not bother with making their own. I was sent some bottles of the Organic Black Orange Kombucha to try out whilst I was waiting. As it’s a real, unpasteurised kombucha, it continues to ferment when bottled meaning it has a short shelf life and murky appearance (the stuff you can buy in the supermarket really isn’t the same thing at all). You’ll also need to take some care when opening the bottles as the kombucha is quite fizzy. Kombucha may also contain low levels of alcohol (less than 1%).
Drinking kombucha
So whilst my kombucha was brewing, I started drinking the organic black orange kombucha every day. I liked the taste: quite sweet and fruity. I liked the fizz. Drinking it became part of my daily ritual. The first two days I tried it, my stomach made some very loud gurgling noises (apparently this is quite common) for half an hour to an hour. I have never heard my stomach make so much noise for that length of time before. So probably best to start drinking when you are at home for a couple of days or drink it after work, just in case it happens to you.
After two days my system seemed to get used to it and my stomach was silent from then on. I did notice a difference though. It felt like my whole digestive tract had eased and I felt lighter. I wasn’t suffering from any particular problems before started drinking kombucha, but there was a definite feeling of ease. Everything seemed to slip along much more smoothly. I was surprised at the difference it made. It made me want to continue drinking kombucha.
The results
How was my kombucha getting on? It sat there for 5 days without much obvious difference occurring. Maybe the scoby had grown a little and the mixture was slightly murkier. After five days I took out the scoby and the top 10% of the mixture to use for setting up my next batch. The remainder I transferred into my glass bottles ( I filled about one and a half bottles). The mixture is ready to drink. I liked my home brewed kombucha. If anything it was a little sweeter than the organic black orange kombucha and it was less fizzy, probably because it hadn’t been bottled for as long. I’ve already set up my next batch to ferment and I think kombucha will be a regular habit for me. I like the idea of experimenting with different types of tea and a variety of flavourings too.
I realised that I actually know exactly what kombucha is. Your description of the process brought back memories from my childhood, when my Mum and I made this drink. Though at that time we didn’t call it kombucha, it was known as “tea fungi”. We had it growing in a big 3litre jar, and it looked like an alien. 🙂
I might get one of those kits for myself, though I doubt I would be able to convince anyone from my family to drink it.
I think you are probably right. I think there are different versions in different countries. I like the sounds of tea fungi. Mine is starting to look like an alien now it’s been through a few brews.
This looks fab, I really like Kombucha but hadn’t really thought about how it was made.
This looks amazing, definitely going to have a go and making this
Very interesting, I have never heard of kombucha before.
I’ve never had kombucha but it sounds so fun to make and certainly something a bit different. It’s great that everything comes in the kit so you aren’t going to mess it up somehow.
I’ve never tried kombucha, sounds interesting will have to give it a go
I’ve only tried kombucha once and I didn’t like it at all, but then I’m not a tea drinker so maybe that explains it.
looks very interesting, worth the try
Looks interesting might give this a try when time allows!
Sounds interesting
Fascinating. I have tried tea kombucha and pineapple juice kombucha and loved them both. Have not tried making my own. This kit looks really good.
This sounds lovely definitely going to try this
Wow this is a super cool idea and looks really fun!
I have tried it before but never tried making it. I guess it would be much cheaper to make it and it is so good for you so would be a great idea to have a go.
Ohh I have some of these hars = Im going to give this ago!
My dad would love this he makes his own wine and used to make beer also
I had never heard of Kombucha but this seems something interesting to try, I like the idea of making it myself from a kit (what could go wrong with that?)
I would definitely try it
I’ve heard a lot about this lately. Sounds interesting.
Would love to try this, it looks amazing
I haven’t tried it but looks interesting I think I’ll order a kit