Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Homemade Kombucha- part 1


The process has begun!  Last night I added my tea and sugar mixture to Slimey.  Before creating the brew, I had to decide on what type of tea to use.  Peeps has used black and green tea (usually a combination of the two) with good results. I thought I'd try something different, and use oolong.  I decided to use a bagged 'high mountain oolong' from Ten Ren that I purchased at a Korean grocery store. There is not much English to be found on the box or bags, so that is really all I know about the tea. I've had this tea a few times before, and it takes like a delicate oolong. I hope the flavor is strong enough to hold up.  We will see! 

I followed directions that Peeps gave me, boiling a gallon of water and adding the tea. Then once it started to cool I added a cup of organic cane sugar. Once this cooled fully, it was added to the jar where Slimey and about 10% of the last batch of Kombucha were waiting.  It's important to keep about 10% of the last batch, in order to have a good environment for your scoby, and also to properly acidify the new batch. It's also necessary to wait until your tea has fully cooled before adding it to the scoby. If it's too warm, it could ruin the scoby.

The tea was still too warm when I went to bed, so Mark (who is quite the night owl) poured it into the jar and took a few pictures for me.  Thanks Mark!

So, now the waiting game begins. The process takes about 2 weeks, but can take much longer, depending on how sour and fizzy you like your tea.  I'm going to check it after 2 weeks, and see how it tastes.  During this process, Slimey will slowly start to produce a new offspring.  After the tea has fermented, other flavors can be added such as fruit juices, ginger, etc. Not sure if I'll add anything to the first batch. We will see!

I am eagerly waiting for my Kombucha!

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