Kombucha - My Way 

Easy continuous brew for 1 gallon jar.

Remove tea into bottle. Fill it almost to the top for the most fizz. But not so much that it bubbles out when you open it - be prepared. The fizz can be intense.

~To each 1 qt serving bottle add:
some honey, about 1 t - 1 T, just dump some in, it really makes crazy fizz (OR 1 t sugar) and something to flavor it.

Ideas:
~about 1/4 cup apple juice, trader joe's strawberry lemonade, home made lemonade, etc.

~Lemon is the most reliable great taste. Peel thinly, add the peels. Remove the white part then dice the lemon into the bottle. Add the sugar and shake to dissolve.

~Hibiscus syrup is out of this world! And it looks beautiful as well. Add 4 oz syrup AND 1 t to 1 T more sugar to each quart. My homemade syrup recipe isn't too sweet - that way you can drink it by itself.

~Make a lemonade or lemon-lime or lime syrup concentrate. Makes an incredible intense "ade":
4 c lemon or lime or mixed juice
8 oz cane sugar
8 oz local raw honey
1 oz homemade stevia
Keep in fridge to add to many batches of kombucha. Add about 3-4 oz per quart.

~Lemon-lime syrup - flavors 6 qts kombucha.
Simmer together:
8 oz cane sugar
8 oz local raw honey
8 oz water
Let cool then add:
juice from approximately
1 lemon
2 limes
1 oz homemade stevia, optional.


~1 qt of Ginger syrup (easy to add and simmering it first gets way more flavor than simply adding sliced ginger to the bottled kombucha)
8 oz water
2 oz fresh ginger roughly peeled and diced fine
Simmer together gently 15-30 minutes or so. Strain into a container. Add more water and simmer the ginger again and again until it has no more flavor.

Stir in 16 oz honey
Juice a lemon into the syrup, including the peel. Continue until you have a quart of syrup.

Keep in refrigerator. Use also for ginger tea!
~Basic Feeder tea:
4 c filtered water, brought to just a boil. Over boiling depletes the oxygen.
3 tea bags
Let cool to room temp but not for too long, only a couple of hours. Too long releases too much bitterness.

Dissolve in:
1/4 c cane sugar (2 oz)

~TO USE OOLONG TEA LEAVES
Rinse the tea leaves with hot water (You should but I don't usually).
Use 180*-200* fresh water.
Use 2 g leaves for 6-8 oz water.

For 32 oz (1 qt) tea:
8 g (0.3 oz)
2 oz sugar

For 96 oz (3 qts) tea:
1 oz tea leaves.
6 oz sugar

~I make this most often!
~For 128 oz (4 qts) (1 gal)
Heat water to 200*. Add:
1 oz tea leaves - fits into 8 oz jars (to prep them ahead of time)
Steep until cooled to room temp. Strain through seive lined with cloth into another gallon jar.
Add:
8 oz sugar
Dissolve well. Pour into kombucha jar with scoby.

For 5 qts
1.6 oz tea leaves
10 oz sugar

~for 8 qts but NOT as strong
and be sure to rinse tea leaves
2 oz tea leaves - fits into 16 oz jars
16 oz sugar

For 10 qts
3.3 oz tea leaves
20 oz sugar

Always leave at least 20% of the kombucha to act as starter tea. I keep 7 qts so I could decant 5 1/2 qts, leaving 1 1/2 qts for starter tea.
~Quick guide: decant 5 qts and leave 2 qts if you want a lot of kombucha for a gathering.

Another way to maintain is to decant what we want to drink and be sure to replenish once a week.

~Also don't fill the jar too full or it will expand and spill out the top. That's why the 2 gal jar is only 7 qts full.

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