Brewing kombucha tea and caring for tea mushroom cultures
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| Brewing kombucha tea, or Manchurian tea, is an easy process which only requires a minimal amount of time, some common kitchen utensils, and some basic knowledge about cultures and good hygiene. If you look after your mushroom culture and care for it properly it should last you a lifetime! This wonderful tea culture has been brewed for thousands of years in conditions a lot less sanitary than todays standards. The tea culture is self preserving and can even go into a dormant state for a length of time, if need be. Brewing your own tea is one of the best ways to provide yourself and your family with a low cost, daily health tonic available any time it is needed. It allows us to take our health and wellbeing into our own hands once again! |
| Brewing kombucha tea is a simple process of boiling water and sugar solution, adding and steeping with green or black tea. Then adding the kombucha cultures once this mixture is cooled. Once you have tried it a few times it will be an easy process to remember. |
When Brewing Kombucha Tea Let's First Talk About Hygiene...
The tea and sugar mixture is a great source of nourishment for all kinds of bacteria and molds, so the cleaner the working area the less chance of contamination. So,
wiping down your working area is also recommended. Keeping the area and utensils clean is important, because, you do not want to contaminate the culture or it
will be unsafe to drink. If your culture becomes contaminated, it is recommended that you start over with a new culture and/or brewing cycle.
Never try to use a contaminated culture to brew a new batch, throw everything out a obtain a new culture! Your health is at risk if you
do. You can not simple wash off the mold or contamination...sorry.
Make sure to wash your hands thoroughly, with soap and water, before handling the culture or reaching inside any containers that the culture is stored in. Better
yet, use a wooden or plastic utensil when handing the culture or culturing gloves. The kombucha has a natural ability to fight or compete with invaders, however,
the cleaner you keep things, the stronger your cultures will be and the less it will have to compete with outside invaders.
Although not necessary, you can rinse your containers with organic distilled white vinegar as an extra step and allow to dry upside down.
The last thing with contamination is to always keep the container covered either with a cloth cover with a thick enough weave to prevent fruit flies from entering,
too. This is to keep insects, molds, and other objects from falling into the tea and contaminating the brew. See preventing mold on the kombucha mushroom for
more details on hygiene.
The tea and sugar mixture is a great source of nourishment for all kinds of bacteria and molds, so the cleaner the working area the less chance of contamination. So,
wiping down your working area is also recommended. Keeping the area and utensils clean is important, because, you do not want to contaminate the culture or it
will be unsafe to drink. If your culture becomes contaminated, it is recommended that you start over with a new culture and/or brewing cycle.
Never try to use a contaminated culture to brew a new batch, throw everything out a obtain a new culture! Your health is at risk if you
do. You can not simple wash off the mold or contamination...sorry.
Make sure to wash your hands thoroughly, with soap and water, before handling the culture or reaching inside any containers that the culture is stored in. Better
yet, use a wooden or plastic utensil when handing the culture or culturing gloves. The kombucha has a natural ability to fight or compete with invaders, however,
the cleaner you keep things, the stronger your cultures will be and the less it will have to compete with outside invaders.
Although not necessary, you can rinse your containers with organic distilled white vinegar as an extra step and allow to dry upside down.
The last thing with contamination is to always keep the container covered either with a cloth cover with a thick enough weave to prevent fruit flies from entering,
too. This is to keep insects, molds, and other objects from falling into the tea and contaminating the brew. See preventing mold on the kombucha mushroom for
more details on hygiene.
Brewing kombucha tea is a simple process of adding the cultures to a cooled tea/sugar solution.
| Because we use only organic tea and organic sugar for our tea brewing process, we believe this makes our cultures some of the purest, giving them extra strength, vitality, and enhances their beneficial properties! |
| The Brewing and Culturing Process... Brewing kombucha tea is very simple process. In this example, we will be brewing a 1 gallon batch of tea. To get started, bring to boil just over 1 gal of filtered or distilled water. Just as with any equipment used you'll want your water to be clean, too. Never use city water as it contains chlorine and other additives from the treatment plant which could kill some of the cultures in the kombucha. The purity of your water can greatly determine the lifespan of the kombucha cultures! Once the water comes to a boil add 1 1/4 to 11/2 cups of sweetener. We recommend using organic cane sugar for the best results. Other sugars may be used, however result may vary and could change the structure of the cultures within the kombucha. Honey or maple sugar should never be used as this will kill some of the cultures, honey is anti-bacterial. Simmer the sweetened solution for another 10 min or until the sugar is dissolved. After the sweetener has dissolved, turn off heat, and add 6 tea bags or 6 teaspoons of loose tea in a tea ball, steep for ten minutes. Green or black tea are most commonly used or you may use a combination of both. Feel free to try other teas and even some herbal teas. NOTE: Some herbal teas contain oils that the kombucha cultures do not like. If you wish to add the benefits of herbal teas you may brew them separate and add them after the fermentation process is complete and you have drawn the Kombu tea for consumption. This may seem like a long time to steep the tea but you'll want to pull out all the constitutes from the tea. These constitutes will be part of the nutrients that the yeast and bacteria will grow from and will provide benefits when you drink the tea. After 10 minutes remove the tea bags or tea ball. Now you'll have to allow the brewed tea solution to cool to room temperature. If the temperature is to high the cultures can be killed. Once the tea solution is cooled we are ready for the culturing process! |
| Culturing Your Fresh tea Solution... The second half of the kombucha brewing process in inoculation. After the tea/sugar solution has sufficiently cooled, you are ready to inoculate it with the kombucha cultures. With each new batch you will want to save your best SCOBY or "mushroom" along with 10-15% of the old tea as a starter fluid or inculum. For a gallon size batch use at least 1-2 cups of starter tea. This will insure that the pH is low and the cultures will be able to compete with any foreign cultures or molds that may be present. The starting pH should be below 4.5 on the pH scale, keep adding starter tea until the correct pH is obtained. You will want to place the smooth white/creamy side upwards. If you did not save any left over tea or received just a SCOBY from say a friend, you may use 2 to 4 tablespoons of organic white distilled vinegar as a 'starter' for your first batch. Add both the starter tea and mother culture/SCOBY to the sweetened tea solution. You have now inoculated the tea solution! Once the tea solution is inoculated, set it in a warm place, out of direct sunlight and undistributed for 5 to 10 days. This will allow the fermentation process to complete it's cycle and the tea will now be ready to drink. This time will very greatly depending on the factor of temperature. When brewing kombucha tea the temperature should be between 70 and 85 degrees. After the 5 to 10 days, you'll want to start checking if the tea is ready to drink. You may buy pH strips, however, this is not necessary. The easiest way to tell if your tea is ready is by smell and taste. You may pull a small sample from the side of the jar with a straw, trying not to disturb the new mushroom growing on top of the tea solution. If checking pH, it should fall between 3.5 and 2.8 on the pH scale. It should have a slight vinegar smell, not to strong, and have carbonation. If your tea still smells sweet and/or is flat then it most likely needs to set a few more days and maybe have an increase in temperature. After 5 to 10 days, the tea should be fizzy, semi-sweet, and similar to apple cider in taste. Allowing it to brew longer (8-14 days) produces a sharper vinegar taste and contains a higher amount of beneficial medicinal properties. Now you can simply bottle any extra tea into clean glass containers. Now that your brewing is complete enjoy a nice fresh glass of kombucha tea! |
| With This ... |
... Make This !
| Benefits of Kombucha : | : Kombucha Use : | : Warnings : | : Cultures & SCOBYs : | : Mushrooms : | : Bottled Kombucha Tea : | : Brewing & Care : | : Organic Starter Kits : | : Kombucha Extract |
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