What is kombucha?
Kombucha is a fermented tea but it is so much more it is a beverage that many have touted as a magical elixir.
Well according to (Wikipedia)
Kombucha originated in Northeast China or Manchuria and later spread to Russia and the rest of the world.[6] In Russian, the kombucha culture is called čajnyj grib чайный гриб (lit. “tea fungus/mushroom”), and the fermented drink is called kombútja комбутя, grib (“fungus; mushroom”), or čajnyj kvas чайный квас (“tea kvass“).
Some promotional kombucha sources suggest the history of this tea-based beverage originated in ancient China or Japan, though no written records support these assumptions (see history of tea in China and history of tea in Japan). One author reported kombucha, supposedly known as the “Godly Tsche [i.e., tea]” during the Chinese Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), was “a beverage with magical powers enabling people to live forever”.[7]
To read more click here to go to the Wikipedia article.
Why even bother making it?
Many doctors and healers believe that Kombucha tea brings balance and detoxifies the body but this article I found said that we should view Kombucha as more than just a health drink and look at it as a nutritious healthy healing food. Kombucha is known to lower blood sugar, blood pressure, reduce graying hair among other things but only you can try it and say whether it works for you. So that’s what the Viking and I decided to do this past week was make our first batch ever of Kombucha.
We believe that mainstream America has been missing out on the health benefits of fermented beverages such as kefir, kombucha, and kvass. There are many more others out there but these are just to name a few. If you would like to share your favorite fermented beverage recipe with me I would love to hear it. (Not wine or mead please ;)…) that’s another blog topic!
It’s a funny story actually but when our host son from Belarus came to America to be with us for the first time he kept asking me for tea and I kept making him iced tea and he would say “No, thats not it” and then I would make him hot tea and he would say “No, thats not it” and he would try to explain to me about this tea with the “mother” in it and I would not really understand what he was talking about. You see in Belarus where Stas was from they were smarter than us in the fact that they know the value of fermented foods and beverages something us in America are just realizing and is starting to become mainstream. Oh how I wish I could go back in time and make Stas his kombucha.
We ordered our Kombucha from Kombucha Kamp and if you keep your scoby alive you only have to order it this one time. They have amazing resources, information, and links about Kombucha on their site. We paid about $28.00 including shipping. Instructions came to talk to it, sing to it etc….so I did welcome the mother to our home and I played serene music and we are hoping our Kombucha gets settled in nicely.
I have to add this last part this was on the Kombucha Kamp website and this is amazing to me because my host son from Belarus kept asking for the tea with the mushroom in it.
(Kombucha Kamp) Origins of Kombucha Tea
More recent first hand Russian stories involve residents in towns near the Chernobyl meltdown of the 1980’s. As the horrific radiation exposure ravaged the victims over the weeks and months following the accident, doctors and scientists noticed a group of people seemingly resistant to the effects, many of whom were elderly women. When traced back, the common thread turned out to be that those who consumed Kombucha regularly survived the radiation.
Reading this just blew my mind away no wonder Stas wanted his tea on hand!
Well I have included pictures for you and my husband bought the glass croc to make the Kombucha at World Market but you can find them at Walmart too. I personally love the taste of Kombucha but its not for everyone….I find when I drink Kefir or Kombucha that I have a sense of well being afterwards this could be because I had thyroid cancer at one point and my body was terribly out of balance or it could just be that I like it….don’t know for sure but our Kombucha is fermenting and I can’t wait for the first glass!
Have a wonderful Thursday!
Fondly,
Linked to the following wonderful blog hops:
My Simple Country Living
&
Karen-Remove the lid from your jar and place a large rubber band to hold the towel in place. The tea needs to breath the air, the natural bacteria in your environment is part of the equasion.
You are going to love kombucha. Our favorite is to place some huckleberries into the smaller jars for the second ferment. I cannot keep a steady supply and we some times run out. I keep 3 gallon jars going.
Carol how do you keep 3 gallons going? Did you buy three scoby’s? My husband put that lid there because he could not find a rubberband I will go find one now! Definitely want this to turn out right! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the advice. My host son always had it in his house when he was growing up!
I start them so I can rotate them as they are ready I move them down the line and add the latest one to the end of the row so I don’t have to guess which I just started. They scoby multiplies.
Don’t keep in next to kefir if you are fermenting that, it will ruin your scoby-I know I did it! It takes 2=3 weeks in my house to make the kombucha, but I know others who have it ready in a week.
Thanks Carol I appreciate you sharing your experiences with us! Wow I did not know the scoby multiplies so you can keep taking the new scoby and make a new batch?
I bought a kombucha from the store that had a scoby in it. I tried making it but it failed. Not sure what I did wrong. I’ll have to try again sometime. You’ve inspired me to try again.
Thanks for linking up at the Carnival of Home Preserving!
Don’t place your kombucha beside any other cultures you have going.
Save the scoby along with about 1/2 the bottle of kombucha to start your own. When your sweet tea has cooled to room temp add the kombucha and the scoby to the jar. I have found that it took just a little longer to get those tiny kombucha scobies to grow in and fill the top of the jar, they will continue to get bigger until they cover the whole top of the liquid.
Don’t add the reserved kombucha and the scoby until the sweet tea is room temp, it is possible your tea was too warm and you killed the scoby?
My first attempt at kombucha ever was not good! We did not care for the flavor at all of the scoby., and when I finally started to get the hang of it I placed it too close to my milk kefir and the whole jar of kombucha became thick and sludgy. I changed it out, but to no avail, I had killed scoby!
I have made new scobies by just waiting, by adding small ones from store bought,.At a later date i got a new scoby from a friend and have found that the flavors of the scoby vary. but have in the end stayed with the one from my friend because we like the flavor best.
I think in the end, it is all pretty darn easy. So easy in fact that we put in too much effort into it and cause the issues ourselves! I have also found that for us the second ferment is the key to a wonderful product.
It really isn’t hard and I think we start by putting too much aeffort ontp
Carol thanks for all of your tips and sharing your wisdom with all of us! Hopefully ours will turn out if not we will try again!
Laura I was excited to link up at your blog hop! Glad my blog post was inspiring and please let me know if you try this again and how it goes….keep your fingers crossed for us 😉
Karen
Thanks for this post, i have read several and have been wanting to get this started to improve our digestive system. Was a little worried about ordering a scoby from far away…..Could not find a source here in the south..
just got my scoby in from the same souce you used. Did you use the sample tea she sent? I was getting worried it took so long for it to come in and was afraid it would ruin the scoby through the mail. How’s yours coming along? still brewing?
Sheryl we are on the second batch we did use the tea she sent but we blew it because we had family in town and let it ferment a little too long….we will be tasting the second batch today and we started another batch so I will keep you posted. Will you let me know how yours goes?
Thank you for responding to my blog. this is my second go round with Kambucha Tea. My scoby died when I was out of town for some time. Glad that I got a new batch from my Big Sis. We really like the benefits. My nephew uses it on acne and my son makes a salve for his pit bulls skin conditions. These youngsters say it really works. I am excited to start up again.
Tamara our first batch went too long and it turned out bleh….:(…however we are on our two second batches and we tasted them last night and they were wonderful! Glad to meet up with some likeminded folks on the internet! I love kombucha it is delicious!
everything I was taught about making Kombucha is NEVER…Never ….use or let it touch metal not your rings on your fingers Never in a metal pan or bowl just a FYI love drinking and making it for years <3
Helene we now use a different pot for brewing our tea lucky for us it did not mess up our efforts…whew! I agree it is a wonderful beverage!
Oh good so glad to hear that. thank you and keep brewing <3
Thanks for your visit! 🙂