Kombucha

Kombucha (comb-boo-cha) is this drink I've heard about for a couple years. I have ignored it until now for a few reasons:

1 - What the heck is it?

2 - It seems like a trendy hipster thing.

3 - I didn't know how wonderful I would feel after drinking it.

Now I know all about this ancient fermented tea. Its benefits are as long as my arm. Probiotics. Enzymes. Amino Acids. Antioxidants. Polyphenols. Antibacterial and antifungal properties. Vitamins B1, 2, 3, 6 and 12. B12 is a big deal to vegans...it doesn't occur naturally in plant foods.

I try it completely by accident at my local health food store (I live in the middle of the country, so "local" means within a 120-mile radius). Thirsty, I weave my way over to the juice cooler. While contemplating the beautiful wrappers and benefits of aloe juice, apple cider, smoothies and the like, a hip thin gal reaches up and grabs her G.T. Dave's Synergy Trilogy Kombucha. She is decisive, intentional; no hesitation. Maybe I want to look like her. You know, really like I know what I want and what is in all these bottles. In truth, a Rosetta Stone would be helpful in my deciphering.

The cashier rings up my kombucha. No reaction from her. Is this drink not as bizarre as it seems to me?

Source

The drive home is long. It is hot outside. Sunshine beating through the windshield makes me sleepy. I crack open my bottle. No, first I shake up the bottle and then read on the label that the contents are under pressure. It sits. Then I crack open my bottle. BAM! Energy! I could dance home. Pangs of pity for my husband as he sips and chews down aloe juice laced with pulp. It looks so chunky.

Back home, about a billion miles from kombucha in any direction, I decide I need more. The next evening the hubs, sensing my desire to explore this awesome drink more, drives me back to the store to stock up.

One problem immediately presents itself. Those bottles are nearly $4.00 each. They're not meal replacements, either. I google kombucha and learn it is fermented with a mother, known as a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). These can be purchased online. They can also be grown from an existing bottle of raw buch (get with the program - call it buch or k-tea).

I did both. Somewhere in the continental U.S. my scoby is flying to me. Complete with starter kombucha and tea for brewing. But I'm a sap for science experiments. I love showing the kids how something grows (like, bacteria!).

Taking a bottle of DT Dave's Organic Raw stuff, I set out to grow my own.

I used a tea bag from each box to create my sweet tea.

Supplies:

1 12-cup coffee carafe, sanitized with boiling water

2 coffee filters and a rubber band

1 black tea bag

1 green tea bag

1 T. organic cane sugar

1 bottle G.T. Dave's Original Kombucha

All my stuff. The kombucha is hanging out in the carafe, sweet tea is cooling to room temp in the corning ware before mixing.

There are some great tutorials out there for making a scoby on YouTube. I used the directions on Food Renegade's blog. My purchased scoby is being shipped from the Happy Herbalist. It comes with dragon pearl tea (Mo Li Long Zhu). It is a blend of green and jasmine tea. That sounds smashing.

I'm officially obsessed with this healthy beverage. More to come as my colony grows.