Kombucha!!!!

I was given a very cool gift yesterday... a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). Don't worry, nobody gave me the flu or some mysterious virus from far off lands.  A scoby is the live culture used to make homemade kombucha! Kombucha is a Japanese fermented tea drink known for it's health promoting benefits. You can buy it in stores but it's terribly expensive ($4 a bottle!) and it's super easy to make at home... at least that is what my friend and coach, Amy, tells me.

Traditionally, you'd use black tea for kombucha, but since I'm trying to kick the caffeine habit I'm using wild sweet orange herbal tea. Other teas for making kombucha include green tea and white tea.

The process goes like this:

1. Boil 1 gallon of water in a big pot. Turn heat off once boiling occurs.

2. Add 12 teas bags and steep for 2-4 minutes (2 for white or green, 4 for black). I brewed my herbal tea for 4 because I like my tea strong and it didn't specify a time for herbal teas. Remove tea bags.

3. Add 1 cup or granulated sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw) and stir until dissolved. Don't worry about the amount of sugar by the time the fermenting process is complete Scoby has used up most of the sugar (it's what feeds this living culture) and the resulting kombucha is very low sugar (and approximately 25 calories per 8 oz cup).

4. Pour your sweet tea into a non-reactive (glass or plastic, NOT metal) wide-topped 1 gallon container. I used a big plastic Rubbermaid pitcher. Make sure it's super clean (i.e. sterilize it in the dishwasher). Add the scoby (liquid and all).

5. Now just let it sit for 7-30 days (depending on the strength of kombucha you'd want). It needs to be in a warm (75-80 degree) place and covered lightly (to keep out dust and other particles), a clean dish towel or one of those place bowl covers works well. I put mine in a cooler and every morning I put 2 quart sized mason jars of hot tap water in with it and close the lid.

6. Once your kombucha is done you can store it in glass/plastic containers in the fridge for several months (I'm sure you'll drink it all well before then) and the scoby (which will have grown to the size of your contain!) can be kept in a non-reactive container with just enough of the kombucha (or you could use sweet tea) to over it. I plan to keep my scoby (which I've named Josh... get it... Josh Scobee?!?! Jacksonville fans will laugh at my joke) in a Pyrex bowl (covered). Store it in a cupboard or somewhere room temperature.

I'm super excited to try my first kombucha! The other really cool thing about the scoby is that since it grows you can cut it into pieces and either make more than one batch at a time OR share your scoby with family and friends (just like my friend, Amy, shared a piece of her scoby with me)!

SOOO, if you are reading this and think this sounds like a cool thing to try, and you live relatively close by let me know and I'd happily share a piece of my scoby, Josh, with you so you can start making your own healthy kombucha!!

I'll be sure to update you all on the final product when it's done!