How to Brew Kombucha
Many people pay through the nose for store bought Kombucha. Store brands like Dave’s, Synergy, GT’s kombucha can run you nearly $4 per bottle. When you can brew kombucha at home by the gallon for mear pennies, this seems like a ludicrous price to pay.
Making Kombucha tea at home is pretty straight forward. I’m going to save you a lot of money right now and show you how to brew kombucha in just a few simple steps with this silly little making Kombucha video!
The best tea for Kombucha is Black tea. If you want “Organic Raw Kombucha” you can purchase fancy organic tea from a health food store or something, but it’s not necessary. Same with the sugar… the plain of white C&H sugar is a sure fire bet for a great Kombucha brew. Go organic only if it makes you feel better about what your you’re putting in your body.
Flavors
Keep it simple. Black or green teas. No herbals. If you want to add flavor to your kombucha tea, wait until the ferment is almost complete. You’ll be able to smell the sourness through the cloth on top of the jar. Remove your Kombucha SCOBY or SCOBIES (since the “Kombucha Mother” will produce a new SCOBY daughter every time) before adding any berries or herbal teas. I mention this, as Gingerberry Kombucha is a very popular flavor, so there must be a lot of interest.
If you need your tea to taste even sweeter and don’t mind a few artificial flavors I highly recommend this flavor of Good Earth Original. It is just like adding honey, but without the calories/carbs. Make sure you add it after the fact. Just put a tea bag into your finished Kombucha container (in the fridge) for a while.
Storage or travel
Store your extra or new SCOBIES in another jar with some Kombucha. They be fine for a long time. If you’re going on vacation or away for a while, just leave! Your SCOBY will be fine sitting in the current batch you’re making. If it’s too sour for your liking when you get home, just throw all but one cup out (which you’ll need for the new batch).
Honey
Yes you can use honey to brew Kombucha, but it’s nothing to call home about. I’d wait until you have a couple of extra kombucha mushrooms laying around before you go experimenting too much! Honey is an anti-bacterial, and you are trying to grow bacteria! You see the problem?
Don’t use you main culture. You want to keep your original mother in good condition in case you get mold. Just be patient and dink around with adjustments in the months to come 
If you do, only use 2/3 cup instead of a full cup.
Use white tea or a white/green mix for a faster ferment.
Mold Warning
IF YOU SEE ANY MOLD OR ANYTHING SORT OF BLUISH YOU SUSPECT MIGHT BE MOLD, THROW EVERYTHING AWAY. DO NOT CONSUME ANY MOLDY KOMBUCHA UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE OR SOMETHING.
Mold isn’t that common. Don’t make Kombucha around garbage or places with an increased chance of mold spores. Use sanitary practices… use your brain!
Continuous brewing
I almost didn’t mention this, because I don’t do it. At least for now anyway, I like having up-most control over my brew. Supposedly there are additional benefits to continuous brewing kombucha. Apparently it’s more healthful to have the bacteria, acids and enzymes at their different stages of brewing.
I Need a SCOBY!
You can make your own, or you can try to find a SCOBY online. To make your own, Poor a plain flavored store bought Kombucha in a jar. Cover with a clean rag, and let it sit on your counter. It will grow a Mother or SCOBY at the top in a few days to a week or so.
Make some sweet tea from the kombucha recipe below, let it cool to room temperature and poor the whole shootin’-match into the new sweet tea. Couple weeks you’ll probably have yourself a nice new big SCOBY mother and a good batch of Kombucha 
You don’t want to make your SCOBY or can’t find kombucha SCOBIES anywhere, shoot me an email. I may be able to sell you one.
Also see my article about Kombucha tea and weight loss.
Kombucha tea making supplies
Kombucha Recipe
- Filter & boiled water 3 quarts of water
- Transfer into a jar
- Steep 10-16 Black tea bags for 5-10 mintures
- Disolve 1 level cup of white sugar
- Cool Overnight or until ROOM temperature
- Add one cup of a pervious batch of Kombucha
- Add the SCOBY or Mother
- Wait 7-14 days
That sounds like a lot of tea bags, but considering there’s 12 cups of water, its really only one or a little more per cup.
You can sample your kombucha brew by sticking a clean straw into the jar and plugging the end with your finger. Pull the straw out and pore it in your mouth. I’ve seen bartenders do this trick to taste test whiner’s drinks.
Can I use White tea?
I’m still testing this theory, (since I usually make the already delicious traditional kombucha black tea), but if you use White or Green tea some say to use brown sugar to keep the ferment from slowing down. I currently have a batch of White Tea Kombucha brewing, so I’ll update this page when I have the results. Update: It works
Kombucha tea and weight loss
It’s said that all the carbs in Kombucha eat eaten up 20-30 days into the fermentation. This Kombucha is very strong acid-wise. This is why I dilute it 3/1. Just like you would with ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar).
Tell me about your experiences (or lack of) with Kombucha
CastleGrok,
THANKS FOR THAT GREAT INFO!! After researching on how to make Kombucha, I was a little afraid to start, but hey after watching this I think I could try! I checked out some other videos yesterday and yours was far superior to them, two thumbs up ;p
Off to buy some supplies!
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Yes, thank you for this—it is wonderful! It makes a difference having both written and visual information. The video is very clear and easy and mentions additional information. I think it’s a great video, certainly very helpful to me.
I drink a lot of Kombucha and really enjoy it. It is expensive, and this looks like a good way for me to go too.
I’m going to start gathering things today, too (like Clayberg).
Thanks again,
O
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@Stacey Clayton – Olivia,
Thanks! Glad it was helpful.
I was worried about it being too long and boring. I made most of it at like 2am after a few nights of squirrel induced insomnia. I had to edit so much! Still ended up being 11 minutes!
It really is easy. Just keep the ingredients simple and the tools clean. Come back and drop me a full report here in a few weeks! it will help others also
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Not long, not boring. Perfect! I am getting ready to talk to my husband about starting Kombucha now along with seed sprouting (as in sprouts that you eat, which I used to do as a raw foodist). Both go together well and enjoy a warm room. We have a little tiny room a bit bigger than a closet with a sink and shelves and a space heater that worked well for the sprouts in the past, so I’m thinking the tea would like it there.
I’ve been wanting to do this for a couple of years, just hadn’t been motivated. Reading yours and clayberg’s and others tweets are super-motivating!
Thanks again,
O
Just make sure the room stays about “room temperature” ~ Grok
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Great video
Also, you have really leaned out (it seems compared to the first #killtoeat video, anyway). The #6wc stuff and #primal is definitely working!
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@Jedidja – Thanks buddy!
We’ll see tomorrow, but I might be down 20 full pounds since Kill To Eat Episode 1. I actually look soft too, because I’m retaining some water and not eating many carbs. I’ll be taking pictures in 3 weeks.
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Continuous brewing is extremely convenient. Because there is a large volume of fermented tea compared to unfermented tea, the chances of mold are much lower. Not to mention you’re not handling the culture, and no need to pour out a (heavy and unwieldy) gallon of liquid.
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@Andrew – Thank you for the input. All very compelling reasons.
In the months to come I may keep a continuous brew, but for now I really like the idea of tighter regulation of the sugar content. Call me anal or OCD
The method in the video is also the cheapest way for beginners to get started. Most people already have everything laying around except for the culture.
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I started drinking store-bought Kombucha tea about a year ago, but around here they sell a 16-oz bottle of the stuff for nearly $4. At the time I figured if my wife can buy a Star*ucks vente latte for $4, then I can enjoy a Kombucha for the same price. Two wrongs didn’t make a right when we added up how much money we were spending. What was called “the latte factor” had been blown into “the latte-kombucha factor.” Yikes.
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I am now addicted to the taste of Kombucha tea. This video will definitely come in handy as I make my own from now on.
Thanks for sharing!
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@Johnny – Know all about the “the latte factor”! Mine used to be the “Red Bull, Rockstar, Wired Factor”. I would buy like 5 of them a day back when they were almost $3 a pop. Can you say adrenal fatigue, inflammation, bonked out and miserable?
It’s nice having a relatively healthy and cheap vice like Kombucha now
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My last 3 gallons of Kombucha were brewed with honey. I did this for two reasons:
Side-by-side, my dark colored honey fermented several days faster in mostly white tea (some green), as opposed to the other using only green, despite using a smaller SCOBY!
Honey Kombucha Verdict
In my opinion (which doesn’t amount to much – Haha) Kombucha made with honey is not even close to as good as kombucha made with white sugar like in the recipe above.
I could have used better honey for sure, but the honey undertones of the brew are just not very appealing to me. They almost kind of stink. It still smells sorta sweet, so I have to wonder if it contains more unfermented sugars/carbs.
Honey Kombucha burps and bubbles a lot more! The SCOBIES bubble and fart (not audibly) like crazy throughout the entire fermentation process. It appears that heavy carbs give cultures gas too
I’ve had honey Kombucha in the fridge for several weeks now. The left over mother (after straining) seems to continue growing in the fridge much more so than with white sugar. There’s a lot more debris floating in the honey kombucha after a short period. Another indicator that there might be more sugar left in the final product.
Bottom line: “If it aint broke, don’t fix it”
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Nice article, I’ll have to try this out.
BTW:
“At least for now anyway, I like having up-most control over my brew.” It’s not “up-most” it’s “utmost”.
Thanks. Although I am a terrible at grammar and spelling, this was probably spellcheck.
“I’ve seen bartenders do this trick to taste test whiner’s drinks.” I believe you mean “winer’s”.
Nope – Whiner: noun, a person who makes frequent complaints usually about little things.
Thanks for looking out for me. I write most of this stuff in the dark hours of the morning
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How much Kombucha do I drink per day? 20oz – Average tally for the past two months.
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Hi! I am growing my scoby for the first time. I don’t think I have the patience for this as I look at it at least 5 times a day. Are you sending scobys to desperate people?
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How does the sweetness of your kombucha compare to GTs? I like GTs but it’s way too sweet. Can you ferment out most or all of the sugar without getting it too acidic or something?
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@rps I don’t drink GT’s so I have no idea, but I imagine it’s a whole lot less sweet, since GT’s wouldn’t probably sell much in USA is it didn’t taste like sugar and/or fruit with sugar
Easiest solution is to just ferment it to your taste, then stick it in the fridge. That’ll pretty much stop the fermenting.
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Helpful video thanks. Confident enough to go scoby hunting now
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@Nicki You’re welcome.
I’m drinking from my freshly finished batch right now
Heavenly brew!
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