Friday, December 7, 2007

Make Your Own Foamy Bubbly Healthy Kombucha Tea

Don't forget to put your aged bottled kombucha in the refrigerator before you attempt to open it, I just opened a warm one and half of it poured up and all over like an all shook up champagne bottle

I just opened an aged and infused bottle of kombucha tea that I aged for only a week. When I opened it I heard a pop and out came foamy bubbly kombucha tea. I poured it in a glass I that had stored in the freezer so it was all frosty and when I poured the tea in the frosty glass the tea fizzed and foamed to the top. I took a little swig and swirled around in my mouth and it was good; my brew brethren, very good.
You can do this too. First you have to know the basics to kombucha tea brewing. You have to be able to brew optimal kombucha tea that already has some fizz to it. You really have to know what you are doing, you have to get away from all the myths and politically correct untruths about kombucha; firstly, that kombucha will be stronger and taste better if you give it what it really wants and needs and that is black tea and white sugar. There are a lot of ignorant people who use green tea or oolong and that is fine if you have an upset stomach or something like that but on the regular bases your kombucha culture want caffeine and easily digested white sugar. Some people even suggest that you use honey to ferment your kombucha; well, guess what? Honey is an antibacterial and will eat your kombucha. It does sound nice; honey, but it is the worst thing you can use.
The first thing you have to do is learn or relearn how to make proper kombucha tea, when you got it good strain it in an all plastic strainer and then strain it twice through a cloth ("Boil the cloth and let it cool") then put the resultant kombucha tea in a swingtop bottle and fill to the top. The straining and lack of oxygen will slow way down any further fermentation. Before you close the swingtop lid you can add ginger, stevia, lemon, lime, mango powder or any small thing that you think will add to the flavor. That is called infusion. I have 7 bottles of 16 ounces going with different flavors.
If you are using glass bottles you must beware because there may be flaws in the glass or the yeast might just go crazy and blow up your glass bottle. Keep your bottle in a cool place where children are not or start the process in a plastic soda bottle, squeeze the bottle in so the co2 from the yeast has somewhere to go and transfer your brew in 3 or 4 days to a glass bottle and finish aging in the fridge for another week. I have a stone ware bottle that is like concrete and I know that thing will never explode.
That is it, kombucha is basically a metabolic balancer and that is why we want to drink it but why not; because it is possible, why not make the best and most delicious kombucha tea you can make and offer it to family and friends so they may enjoy the taste and reap the health benefits
I love talking about kombucha kefir and fermenting and I am happy to help anyone who wants to learn I only ask that they pass on the knowledge to others. Happy brewing my brethren

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great work.

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!