Brewing kombucha tea cultures brewing instruction guide photos

Brewing kombucha tea, or Manchurian tea, is an easy process which only requires a minimal amount of time, some common kitchen
utensils, and some basic knowledge about cultures and good hygiene. If you look after your mushroom culture and care for it properly it
should last you a lifetime! This wonderful tea culture has been brewed for thousands of years in conditions a lot less sanitary than todays
standards. The tea culture is self preserving and can even go into a dormant state for a length of time, if need be. Brewing your own tea is
one of the best ways to provide yourself and your family with a low cost, daily health tonic available any time it is needed.
It allows us to take our health and wellbeing into our own hands once again!

However lets first talk about hygiene and sanitation when BREWING KOMBUCHA...

Whenever you are going to brew a batch of tea, it is necessary to clean all items that you plan to use. This can be done with hot soapy water. Wash all containers
that the kombucha will be brewing in, too. Glass is recommended for storing and fermenting all kombucha products. Also, wash the pot and any utensils that you
will use to boil the water, sugar and tea. Next is to rinse all containers very well to remove any soap residues. Although it is not a necessary step, you may also do
a final rinse of everything in vinegar. This will help remove any residue or molds that may of been missed during the cleaning process.

The tea and sugar mixture is a great source of nourishment for all kinds of bacteria and molds, so the cleaner the working area the less chance of contamination. So,
wiping down your working area is also recommended. Keeping the area and utensils clean is important, because, you do not want to contaminate the culture or it
will be unsafe to drink. If your culture becomes contaminated you will have to start over with a new culture and/or brewing cycle.

Never try to use a contaminated culture to brew a new batch, throw everything out a obtain a new culture! Your health is at risk if you
do. You can not simple wash off the mold or contamination...sorry.

Make sure to wash your hands thoroughly, with soap and water, before handling the culture or reaching inside any containers that the culture is stored in. You
must remove any food and oils that may be on your hands. The kombucha has a natural ability to fight or compete with invaders, however, the cleaner you keep
things, the stronger your cultures will be.

The last thing with contamination is to always keep the container covered either with a thick cheese cloth or an old clean T-shirt works well, too. This is to keep
insects, molds, and other objects from falling into the tea and contaminating the brew.

Todays highly processed foods contain many artificial and chemical
substances. Sugar may contain anti-caking agents, traces of pesticides and
chemicals. Community sources of water or "city water" contains chlorine
and fluorine at the least.
Commercial tea may hold pesticides and herbicides from the fields and
preservatives from processing.

That is the main reason we at, Organic-Kombucha.com, have and always
will, use organic ingredients for brewing our tea and cultures. The
introduction of chemicals or preservatives may weaken or kill some of the
cultures or bacteria within the kombucha or limit their ability to reproduce.
Your culture may still live and produce new babies, however, parts of the
bacteria or yeast may have died because of the introduction of foreign matter
and chemicals.
The higher quality of ingredients one uses the stronger and beneficial the
kombucha tea!

MORE ON KOMBUCHA...
The kombucha culture or scoby mushroom grows from a
brewed solution of sugar and tea, this may be black,
green, or white tea or really any other tea as long as it is
not an herbal tea. Herbal teas contain to many oils that
the cultures will not like. You may add brewed herbal
teas to your ready-to-drink brew if these qualities are
desired. Many people, including people with diabetes,
are concerned with consuming sugar and/or caffeine tea.
There is no need for worry, for when the tea is properly
brewed and the fermentation process is complete (you
can buy pH strips to test the acid content of the tea if
you like) there is very little sugar, if any, and trace
amounts of caffeine and alcohol. The culture should
never be frozen, however it may be stored in the
refrigerator which will make it go dormant. However we
do not recommend doing this for a long period of time as
this retards the culture and may take some time and many
brewing cycles before the strength is returned to the
culture. The kombucha culture can sustain itself for long
periods of time, months in fact, without a fresh source of
food and may even still produce new s.c.o.b.y.s, but
more slowly. This is a preferred method of "storing" the
kombucha culture if time or commitments keeps you
from brewing new tea each week. To "restart" the
s.c.o.b.y. simply add some brewed tea/sugar mixture and
the culture will again become active and start growing. Of
course it is best to keep continually brewing new batches
of tea to keep the kombucha as strong as possible. A
weak or dormant culture will become more susceptible to
molds.

Traditional, Kombucha is used for aiding
the body in detoxifying the body,
maintaining metabolic balance, but it is
said to also promote overall wellbeing
throughout the body. People from all
parts of the world use it as a general
daily health tonic.
Use before meals to lose weight, after
meals to gain weight.

The Brewing and Culturing Process...

The actual brewing process is really very simple. In this example, we will be brewing a 1 gallon batch of tea. You start
the brewing process by bringing to boil just over 1 gal of filtered or distilled water. Just as with any equipment you use you'll
want your water to be clean, too. Never use city water as it contains chlorine and other additives from the treatment plant
which could kill some of the cultures in the kombucha. The purity of your water can greatly determine the lifespan of the
kombucha cultures!

Once the water comes to a boil add 1 1/4 to 11/2 cups of sweetener. We recommend using organic cane sugar for the best results.
Other sugars may be used, however result may vary and could change the structure of the cultures within the kombucha.
Honey or maple sugar should never be used as this will kill some of the cultures, honey is anti-bacterial. Simmer the sweetened
solution for another 10 min or until the sugar is completely dissolved.

After the sweetener has dissolved, turn off heat, and add 6 tea bags or 6 teaspoons of loose tea in a tea ball, steep for ten
minutes. Green or black tea are most commonly used or you may use a combination of both. Feel free to try other teas and
even some herbal teas. NOTE: Some herbal teas contain oils that the kombucha cultures do not like. If you wish to add the
benefits of herbal teas you may brew them separate and add them after the fermentation process is complete and you have
drawn the Kombu tea for consumption.

This may seem like a long time to steep the tea but you'll want to pull out all the constitutes from the tea. These constitutes
will be part of the nutrients that the yeast and bacteria will grow from and will provide benefits when you drink the tea. After
10 minutes remove the tea bags or tea ball. Now you'll have to allow the brewed tea solution to cool to room temperature. If
the temperature is to high the cultures can be killed. Once the tea solution is cooled we are ready for the culturing process!

Culturing Your Fresh tea Solution...

Now that the sweetened tea solution has sufficiently cooled, you are ready to inoculate it with the kombucha
cultures. With each new batch you will want to save your best SCOBY or "mushroom" along with 10-15% of the
old tea as a starter or inculum. For a gallon size batch use at least 2 cups of starter tea. This will insure that the pH
is low and the cultures will be able to compete with any foreign cultures or molds that may be present. You will
want to place the smooth white/creamy side upwards.

If you did not save any left over tea or received just a SCOBY from say a friend, you may use organic white
distilled vinegar as a starter for your first batch. Add both the starter tea and mother culture/SCOBY to the
sweetened tea solution.
You have now inoculated the tea solution!

The next step is to allow the inoculated tea solution to set in a warm and dark place, undistributed, for 5 to 10 days
to allow the fermentation process to complete. This time will very depending on the temperature, the culture likes
the temperature to be between 70 and 85 degrees. After the 5 to 10 days, you'll want to start checking if the tea is
ready to drink. You may buy pH strips, however, this is not necessary. The easiest way to tell if your tea is
ready is by smell and taste. You may pull a small sample from the side of the jar with a straw, trying not to disturb
the new mushroom growing on top of the tea solution.
It should have a slight vinegar smell, not to strong, and have carbonation. If your tea still smells sweet and/or is flat
then it most likely needs to set a few more days. After 5 to 8 days, the taste should be fizzy, semi-sweet, and
similar to apple cider in taste. Allowing it to brew longer (8-14 days) produces a sharper vinegar taste and contains
a higher amount of beneficial medicinal properties. Now you can simply bottle any extra tea into clean glass
containers.
Now that your brewing is complete enjoy a nice fresh glass of kombucha tea!

Organic-Kombucha.com has
freshly brewed and bottled
Kombucha tea, organic basic
and deluxe starter kits,
SCOBYs, and pure organic
extract available.
We brew this tea ourselves,
guarantying fresh and strong
brew each batch.
Start brewing your own daily
health tonic at home with one of
our starter kits. Cost less than
$1 per gallon batch, a bit more
for organic ingredients, to keep
a continual batch of tea brewing
for your health and wellbeing!

Brewing kombucha tea and caring for tea mushroom cultures

Incorporate Kombucha tea/Manchurian tea as part of your daily practice to aid you in your health and healing. A great daily health tonic