Brewing Your Own Homemade Kombucha {Part 1}

As I have continued to get more and more into fermenting foods, there is one beverage that has fascinated me – Kombucha. If you aren’t familiar with Kombucha, it’s fermented tea that has been consumed for thousands of years by civilizations around the world.

Kombucha has many health benefits, including improved digestion, increased energy and a clearer mind. Read more about Kombucha health benefits.

The girls and I love Kombucha, and we have been drinking a brand from the grocery store, but it’s so expensive at $3 a bottle! I have wanted to make my own, but was overwhelmed every time I went online to try and learn more. Which SCOBY to use, which tea is the best, continuous or batch brewing… my questions just went on and on.

Then I talked to Hannah from Kombucha Kamp, and everything she said made it sound so simple that it made me wonder why I hadn’t started brewing my own Kombucha already! She sent me her Brew Now Kit so I could give it a try. This kit is for batch brewing, and is great if you’re trying to decide if brewing Kombucha is for you. She also has a really awesome selection of continuous brew kits.

She also has an abundance of Kombucha recipes on her website to make the process even more fun. There’s a Ginger Lime Kombucha Tea Recipe on that page I definitely want to try with my next batch!

The Brew Now Kit contains everything you need to get started, except for a 1-gallon glass jar. I bought this jar from Amazon to use since I couldn’t find one locally. The lid is not important for your brewing vessel since you use a cloth cover (which is included the Kombucha Kamp Brew Now Kit). I could hardly wait for it to be delivered so I could get started brewing my kombucha!

The first thing I did was read through Hannah’s brewing guide (also included in the kit), which is so in-depth! It’s an awesome resource for anyone that is planning to brew their own Kombucha. After I read through her instructions, I pulled out all of my materials and got started!

To start, I filled the glass jar with warm water while I was boiling my 4 cups of filtered water. You don’t want the glass jar to be cold or it might crack when you pour boiling water in it. You’ll then want to put 2 tablespoons of the loose-leaf tea into a tea bag.

When the water came to a boil, I poured the warm water out of the jar, tossed the tea bag in and poured the hot water over the tea bags. Allow the tea to steep for 5-7 minutes and remove the tea bag (be sure to squeeze the bag to get all the tea out of it).

Then pour 1 cup of the organic cane sugar into the hot tea and stir until it’s dissolved.

Once that’s complete, fill the jar until it’s nearly full (leave about 2 inches at the top) with cold, filtered water to bring the temperature down. Check to see if it’s below body temperature. If it’s not, you need to allow it to continue to cool so you don’t kill the SCOBY. Once it has cooled below body temperature, add your starter liquid and the SCOBY.

Then cover the jar with the cloth cover (do not use cheese cloth as the weave is too loose) and secure with a rubber band.

Then put the jar somewhere warm and dark that gets good airflow for 7 days to let the magical brewing process happen.

Are you curious how mine turned out? In the next post, I’ll share the results and show you how to bottle your Kombucha and add flavorings! In the meantime, be sure to check out Kombucha Kamp to learn more about how easy it is to brew your own Kombucha!

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Thank you to Kombucha Kamp for providing one or more of the products mentioned in this post. Although I received them at no cost to me, all opinions expressed in this post are purely my own.