Kombucha Guide
Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|
| SCOBY | Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. The culture that ferments the tea and sugar into kombucha. |
The Recipe I Use
I use a recipe that’s derived from Sandor Katz’s The Art of Fermentation.
This recipe makes 1 gallon of kombucha over approximately 7 days. To scale to larger or smaller amounts, adjust the ingredient amounts proportionally.
Ingredients
| Ingredients |
|---|
| 4 tablespoons black tea (enough to make 16 cups of tea) |
| 1 cup cane sugar |
| 1 gallon water |
| SCOBY |
| Equipment |
|---|
| 1 gallon jar |
| Filter / sieve |
| Towel for covering kombucha |
| Rubber band for holding the towel |
Steps
- Make 4 cups of tea concentrate
- Heat 4 cups of water to boiling
- Add 4 tablespoons of black tea (or enough to make 16 cups of tea)
- Brew for 10 to 15 minutes
- Add 1 cup of sugar to the tea concentrate and dissolve the sugar in
- Pour the water into a gallon jar
- If needed, cool the water a bit first. You can add a few ice cubes or dilute with water from the next step
- Add 12 cups of water to the jar. Stir to mix.
- Usually I added about 11 to 11.5 cups so there’s head room
- Verify the water is cool, below about 80 degrees F. If not, add ice cubes to cool it down.
- Add the SCOBY
- I usually add the SCOBY structure and additional kombucha from a previous batch
- Cover the jar with a cloth and rubber band
- Put in a dry, warmish location for 7 days
- After 7 days, taste the kombucha. If it’s too sweet, let it ferment longer. If it’s too sour, ferment less next time.
- Also, feel free to taste at any point during the fermentation process and adjust the timing accordingly
- When the kombucha is ready, remove the SCOBY and store it in a jar with some kombucha from the batch
- (Optional) Flavor it and bubble it.
- Pour the kombucha into a bottle with some fruit.1
- Let it sit for a day or two before filtering out the bits and pouring into another bottle to store in the refrigerator.
| Kombucha (≈1 gallon) |
| 4 C hot water | Brew tea concentrate | Dissolve in sugar | Incorporate it all together |
| 4 T black tea |
| 1 C sugar | |
| 12 C room temp water |
| SCOBY and starter |
Cost Analysis
This section breaks down the cost of making a gallon of kombucha.
| Ingredient | Store Price | Price per batch (gallon) |
|---|
| 4 T (0.03 pounds) black tea | $36.80 / pound 2 | $1.10 / batch |
| 1 C (0.44 pounds) cane sugar | $1.99 / pound 3 | $0.88 / batch |
| 1 gallon water | - | - |
| SCOBY | - | - |
| TOTAL | - | $1.98 / gallon batch |
At $1.98 per gallon of kombucha, that’s $0.19 per 12 ounces, which is the typical bottle size at the store. A bottle often costs about $3.50 at the store, so that’s a 95% savings.
Resources