The difference between buying kombucha in the store and brewing your own kombucha February 3, 2009

I can break down the difference between store bought kombucha and brewing your own kombucha pretty easily:

PRICE
Probably the biggest thing is price. I’ll put it this way, if you buy a bottle a day, let’s say you have 30 bottles a month, 360-365 bottles a year at 5 bucks a bottle. That comes out to 1,825 dollars a year on kombucha tea alone! So much for that new computer you were planning on buying…BUT if you brew your own bottles it comes out to literally pennies per serving, there is the money that goes into buying a kombucha brewing system but after a month of not buying kombucha bottles at the store it has literally paid for itself.

CONTROL THE SUGAR, (kombucha good for diabetics)
You can control the amount of sugar your kombucha has. Most commercially brewed kombucha you buy at the store is loaded with sugar so unfortunately diabetics can’t enjoy the other benefits of kombucha. To control the amount of sugar simply brew longer and your kombucha will “digest the sugar” if you will. This process also allows you to control the fizzyness, some people like it super fizzy, some don’t, simply let it ferment longer for more fizzy kombucha.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN CAFFEINE LEVEL
Some people are really sensitive to caffeine so the idea of store bought kombucha isnt really a good idea. BUT!!! When your brew your own kombucha you can use non caffeinated tea such as honeybush and rooibos for kombucha brewing. You can check out the entire selection of teas approved for kombucha brewing http://getkombucha.com/reforkobr.html

Question about my first kombucha brew January 24, 2009

Here is a question we recently got:

QUESTION:
Got the brew kit a week ago, and am about to start to bottle my first batch. I noticed yesterday that the new culture that formed on top looked kinda blue. I read that cultures can mold and infect the tea, and now I am scared. how does this look to you?

Picture of a Healthy, yet Very young baby scoby

If it is ok (i really hope it is), after i bottle the all the tea (and leave a little?) can i just put new brewed sweetened tea right on top of all the culture, or do i take some out?

Thanks for helping me out I am really excited to finally be brewing my own kombucha.

RESPONSE:
QUIICK RESPONSE:

As far as I can see you look good to go!! just save around 15% (usually the spigot placement is a good measure of 15%) and pure some fresh tea on top.

ADVANCED TIP!!!

To ensure a healthy and more evened out batch: After you pour your sweet tea on top of the SCOBY, draw a big ole glass from the spigot and pour it on top. This will take part of the 15% starter tea from your last batch that was on the bottom and place it on top of your new sweat tea. Kind of like a starter tea sandwich where the starter tea is the bread (rye, pumpernickel, any kind you want) and the sweat tea is the turkey (unless your a vegetarian, and then it would be the tofurkey).

This gently mixes the older more acidic brew with the fresh sweat tea, causing the ph level to drop a little bit faster before the sweat tea can become susceptible to harsh environmental conditions.

Happy Brewin’!

Dave

PS: Congrats on rockin out with the culture and a helluva great pic!

Happy Halloween! November 1, 2007

There’s no costume as spooky as a SCOBY! Of course, I come to that realization the day AFTER halloween. Next year I think I’ll go as a culture. Too little, too late. This year I was a newsie, and I got to use a very bad british accent.

So, last night, LATE, I decided I couldn’t wait to feed Jody the Scoby any longer. So, I found some loose tea I’d gotten from Dave a while ago (I was lucky enough to have the GetKombucha proprietary mix!) used a tea ball (packed FULL) and brewed Jody up some dinner! So now, she’s getting her sweet fix. My husband and my roommate are both totally weirded out by the whole kombucha thing– but I see them peeking under the lid every once in a while. I know they’re more fascinated than they let on!

Do any of you guys have funny Kombucha brewing stories or reactions from housemates/ friends? I’d love to hear them!