Kombucha is tasty — and it has lots of people kicking their soda addiction. You've heard about how good it is for you: It's got all of the beneficial properties of tea, plus plenty of probiotics for your gut. These helpful bacteria can decrease inflammation and may aid in weight loss — plus, a healthy gut biome has even been shown to improve your mood. It also happens to be super refreshing on a warm day (and makes a damn good cocktail).
Basically, what's not to love? Well, there is one downside: The price tag. These little babies can be more than $4 dollars a serving. (That's like, even more than our Starbucks habit.) Luckily, it's surprisingly easy to make — keep on reading; we'll walk you through each step for kombucha success.
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What you need
First, gather your ingredients:
1. A glass jar, at least a gallon size
2. Black or green tea (or a combination of each), 8 bags total or 2 tablespoons loose tea
3. Around 15 cups water
4. 1 cup sugar
5. A SCOBY (we'll explain that on the next slide)
6. 1 cup starter kombucha (make sure it's unflavored and unpasteurized)
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Find a SCOBY
SCOBY is an acronym for Sometimes Creepy Offensive Blob- Yikes. Just kidding: It actually stands for Symbiotic Culture of Yeast and Bacteria. This will be your hardest item to get, but if you go to your local Whole Foods and walk the aisles ask any hippie and they'll have one in their car. (Just kidding again.)
In actuality, if anyone you know makes kombucha, they will have a SCOBY for you because SCOBYs multiply like magic. If you are the trendsetter in your friend group and are the first to brew kombucha you can buy one on Amazon.
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Brew the 'booch
Now that you have everything together, it's time to brew the tea. Boil eight cups of water, turn off the burner, and add your tea bags. Steep for about 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags and stir in one cup of sugar until it dissolves. Let it cool to room temperature.
Next, pour the tea/sugar mixture into the glass jar, then carefully add your SCOBY and starter kombucha (assuming this is your first batch, you can just use store bought kombucha for this step). This will lower the pH of the tea and provides a perfect environment for fermentation. Add around seven more cups of water to fill the entire container. Finally, cover the whole shebang with a tightly woven cotton cloth (you can also use coffee filters or even a paper towel) and secure with a rubber band.
Image via Rachel White
Fermentation time
Now you just set it and forget it, for about a week. Be sure to place your kombucha in a dry spot out of direct sunlight. The fermentation process takes between 7 to 12 days. After 7 days you can start tasting it, to get the perfect mix of sweet and tart for your taste buds.
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