Kombucha: More Kitchen Pets
Recently, I wrote about making sourdough bread, and about our kitchen pet, Agatha the Levain. Not being content with only one inanimate pet, nor one on-going kitchen project, I decided sometime in March that I should probably start making my own kombucha.
When I first moved to Sydney, I stayed with an artist named Sue for a month, while settling in and looking for an apartment. One day while doing laundry, I lifted the tea towel that seemed perpetually draped over a mysterious bowl, and, not knowing what the pale, snotty, slimy thing was that I found in that bowl, I quickly replaced the tea towel and pretended I never looked. A few days later, Sue brought the bowl out, and explained that she was making kombucha. I don't think I'd really had it before. Sue made hers with herbal teas and added it to soda water. I thought it was pretty good, so while stuck in the house and wondering about things to drink that were neither alcohol nor tap water, I thought about Sue and her kombucha.
So, one day, Sue dropped off a SCOBY in a jar for me to get started. SCOBY stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, and I called ours Scooby. Scooby and I have a lot in common: as long as it has enough sugar and caffeine, it is happy.
Kombucha is fermented tea, and it can be as sweet as you like, as fizzy as you like, and flavoured with whatever teas or fruit you like. Making kombucha is not hard, but it does put one on on a bit of a production schedule - much more than sourdough does. I follow the Simple Guide to Kickass Kombucha, which is available in a printable PDF for easy reference, and it involves double fermentation to get really nice fizzy kombucha to one's own sweetness preference. The first fermentation takes about 6 days, and the second fermentation takes 4-5 days, and once you pour the first fermentation tea into bottles for the second fermentation, you're already starting your next 6 day first fermentation cycle.
Thus, you are making two bottles of kombucha at a time, and you better get on drinking them, because every two bottles have another two bottles hot on their heels. I bought three pop-top bottles so that there's one-bottle lee-way, but it's good to have another back-up bottle as well for times when I forget to drink it.
I like to use a combination of standard black tea and rooibos tea (I've never liked drinking rooibos tea on its own, and had accumulated some boxes of it that I didn't want to throw out - turns out this was the perfect use for it). I have used honey and maple sugar to start the second fermentation, but I have found it really nice to use fruit. I prefer the kombucha to be a little sweet and very fizzy, so I am generous if adding honey, but find that I get the best fizz by using sweet fruit (and really don't need to add honey at all).
Some really good combinations that we've found so far include:
For a black & rooibos tea:
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| First fermentation with berry pu'erh tea |
So, one day, Sue dropped off a SCOBY in a jar for me to get started. SCOBY stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, and I called ours Scooby. Scooby and I have a lot in common: as long as it has enough sugar and caffeine, it is happy.
Kombucha is fermented tea, and it can be as sweet as you like, as fizzy as you like, and flavoured with whatever teas or fruit you like. Making kombucha is not hard, but it does put one on on a bit of a production schedule - much more than sourdough does. I follow the Simple Guide to Kickass Kombucha, which is available in a printable PDF for easy reference, and it involves double fermentation to get really nice fizzy kombucha to one's own sweetness preference. The first fermentation takes about 6 days, and the second fermentation takes 4-5 days, and once you pour the first fermentation tea into bottles for the second fermentation, you're already starting your next 6 day first fermentation cycle.
 |
| Berry pu'erh tea in second fermentation |
I like to use a combination of standard black tea and rooibos tea (I've never liked drinking rooibos tea on its own, and had accumulated some boxes of it that I didn't want to throw out - turns out this was the perfect use for it). I have used honey and maple sugar to start the second fermentation, but I have found it really nice to use fruit. I prefer the kombucha to be a little sweet and very fizzy, so I am generous if adding honey, but find that I get the best fizz by using sweet fruit (and really don't need to add honey at all).
Some really good combinations that we've found so far include:
For a black & rooibos tea:
- Passionfruit - these were just in season, and so good
- Smashed apple, cinnamon & ginger - this one tasted like apple pie
- Blood orange & ginger
For a berry pu'erh tea:
- Mango - tinned mango works incredibly well
- Honey & ginger
I've tried using green teas or a mix of green and black, but I'm not a huge fan of the taste of the final product. However, everyone has different preferences, and I possibly haven't found the right second-fermentation fruit/sweetener combo to for the greens. Happy to accept suggestions if you have any!
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