Kombucha tea?
Posted by SilentCricket on Jan 12, 2007 · Member since Jul 2006 · 141 posts
Has anyone heard of the Kombucha tea? I found it a couple months ago while browsing random websites, and the whole idea has been stuck in my head since then. I actually joined a yahoo! group and asked for a culture (it reproduces every time you brew), so hopefully I'll be making my own tea by this time next week. I'm still curious, though - has anyone else ever heard of this tea?
Yes! I have my first batch brewing in a water crock right now. I was buying a case of GT or Millenium's Kombucha tea once a month at Whole Foods but it was a bit pricey (about $3 a bottle) and I decided I would try brewing it myself. I bought my starter from the Happy Herbalist sitet and followed the continous brewing method given there. I've had a fantastic improvement in my previously constant sinus problems (excessive drainnage and lots of infections) since I started drinking 8 oz of the commercial KT. I wouldn't live without it now!
Does this have caffiene in it? Like, any at all? I am VERY sensitive to caffiene which is why I ask.
I think most flavors do. Here's the link to the site for the commercial kombucha that I buy at Whole Foods:
http://www.gtskombucha.com/
I'm brewing my own with dragon pearl green tea. Here's the link to the Happy Herbalist:
http://www.happyherbalist.com/
You might email him at: eval(unescape('%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%65%64%64%79%40%48%61%70%70%79%48%65%72%62%61%6c%69%73%74%2e%63%6f%6d%22%3e%65%64%64%79%40%48%61%70%70%79%48%65%72%62%61%6c%69%73%74%2e%63%6f%6d%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b')) and ask him about brewing with something non-caffeine. Caffeine's not a problem for me in low concentrations so I haven't investigated whether you can make at decaf.
I was curious so I did a little research on the culture used to brew this tea; I saw a lot of acids and enzymes that can be animal derived. Do you know if this tea is vegan or not? Some pictures of home-made kombucha in-the-making looked pretty gross :o but, for some reason I still want to try it sometime...
That's an understatement.... My MIL had a kombucha-op several years ago. The kombucha sort of resembled a jellyfish out of water. As I remember all the containers had to stay impecably sterile and in a dark place, which ended up being her closet? :D and then she wanted us to actually drink the stuff!!
K^2
Whoa, neato. Someone clue in the uninitiated... what is it? WHY does it look all jellyfishy? :o
How coincidental... I also have my first batch brewing - two days in the gallon!
I'm hoping to start a commuinty-sharing chain, kind of like friendship bread, only Kombucha Tea!
I thought I'd ask those of you who brew kombucha, how's it progressing? Mine is still going strong but it's gone through a phase of being too yeasty. Still healthy to drink but not the most pleasant taste. It's beginning to taste more "normal" now. I'm using the continuous brewing method where I replace the amount that we've drunk with a like amount of fresh green tea and sugar. Just curious. 8)
I have never heard of Kombucha... I'm reading all about it now on the gts link....
What kind of flavor does the tea have on it's own??
Some friends of mine had kombucha as their drink of choice at their committment ceremony last summer. I had never tried it before, and really liked it. It's strange at first, but then found it to be surprisingly yummy. It tastes... well, fermenty, I guess. Theirs was brewed by friends.
I have never heard of Kombucha... I'm reading all about it now on the gts link....
What kind of flavor does the tea have on it's own??
It tastes a lot like really good apple cider. We drink ours up so it never really gets a strong vinegar taste. I like it a lot. Right now, my brew isn't at its best, too yeasty, but it's taken more for the probiotics than the taste anyway so it doesn't matter that much.
So, it's like a cross between tea, sourdough, beer, and yogurt? :P
It sounds like it would be alcoholic; does it never reach that level of fermentation? The idea intrigues me, but I don't like sweetening my tea. (I guess that's just to feed the cultures?) Tell us how it goes!
So, it's like a cross between tea, sourdough, beer, and yogurt? :P
It sounds like it would be alcoholic; does it never reach that level of fermentation? The idea intrigues me, but I don't like sweetening my tea. (I guess that's just to feed the cultures?) Tell us how it goes!
Yes, the sugar is used to feed the culture. It shouldn't be very sweet at all but not too sour when you drink it. It'll go too vinegary to drink before it develops an appreciable amount of alcohol. I think it's great stuff!
I am so interested in this...
I read all about how to do it at the happy herbalist and I have to say the idea of the mushroom and feeding it is a bit creepy to me.... it almost seems like a pet msuhroom!! You know since you have to 'care for it' kind of.
You have to keep updating us and tell us how it goes Tintexas! What kind of crock do you keep it in? It seems like a sun tea spout thingy might work, right? The flavor sounds kind of yummy too.
I have mine in a ceramic water crock. It's impervious to light so I don't have to keep it in a dark closet; I have it on the corner of the "breakfast bar" part of the counters that divides the kitchen area from the dining area in my house. It'd be kinda hard to pour a glass every morning and evening if it was inaccessible like that. I think the Happy Herbalist sells crocks like the one I'm using but I had mine from before when we lived in Lubbock. We had to bring in bottled water there because my DH isn't supposed to drink water with so much calcium and other minerals. The water up there tastes bad too.
So is the tea ready yet? Just curious how it turned out. I bought some already made stuff at the HFS yesterday and I know I've drank the stuff before; the taste is very unique. I have to say that at first I nearly gagged but now I cant get enough of it. So I'd like to make my own.
So is the tea ready yet? Just curious how it turned out. I bought some already made stuff at the HFS yesterday and I know I've drank the stuff before; the taste is very unique. I have to say that at first I nearly gagged but now I cant get enough of it. So I'd like to make my own.
Yes, it only takes a week or less (3-4 days if it's warm in the room) for it to "brew", then you add more green tea (or whatever kind you use) and sugar to the mixture to replace what you've drunken and it just keeps making the good probiotics and beneficial enzymes. I've been doing the process since the middle of January and it's great. I didn't get nearly as sick from the flu-like illness as some other people around here. It just doesn't seem to let go of them but I conquered it quickly. It is an acquired taste but with a name like Kombucha you should know to expect something different. Good Kombucha tea should have a base taste like good apple cider (not apple cider vinegar.)
Check out the yahoo Kombucha group. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/original_kombucha/
You may find someone close to where you live who will be willing to give you a starter mushroom, a scoby, for free or just for mailing costs. The Happy Herbalist site can give you all the info on the continuous brewing method. I don't really care for fizzy drinks so I don't do a secondary fermentation that would make mine fizzy.
I would love to try making my own, but I'm scared it won't be sour enough for me. I love the storebought kombucha (especially the ones with ginger juice added), because I love sour things (I could drink vinegar out of the bottle if it didn't hurt my throat), and I like the fact that it's bubbly. How similar does the home-made kombucha taste to the GTS brand at the store?
I'm glad someone bumped this up ... I was just thinking about asking you that tintexas!
I really want to start brewing some.
Is it very time consuming for you? It seems like it would be... I mean it does have to be checked on daily, right? What if I went away for the weekend? What would I come back to? :)
I'm wondering if I will be able to keep up with it... For example... sometimes...okay often... my house plants die.... ::)
Oh and the GTS website reccomends asking your doctor before drinking it if you are pregnant or nursing... I don't think my doctor would even know what it was LOL...
I'm glad someone bumped this up ... I was just thinking about asking you that tintexas!
I really want to start brewing some.
Is it very time consuming for you? It seems like it would be... I mean it does have to be checked on daily, right? What if I went away for the weekend? What would I come back to? :)
I'm wondering if I will be able to keep up with it... For example... sometimes...okay often... my house plants die.... ::)
Oh and the GTS website reccomends asking your doctor before drinking it if you are pregnant or nursing... I don't think my doctor would even know what it was LOL...
It's not really very time-consuming. The most time you'll spend is getting it started. That requires rinsing your brewing vessel and all pots, spoons and measuring cups with white vinegar and then plain water to remove any traces of soap that might be on them. Then you make at least a gallon of tea (in a big pot that you've vinegar rinsed) and add 1 - 1/2 cups sugar to it. You have to let the sugared tea cool down to room temperature before you pour the scoby and the liquid it comes in into the brewing vessel and add the tea to it.
After that it's just re-rinsing the tea making pot and making the sugared tea and letting it cool. You can go off and do other things while it cools.
As for going away for the weekend, you can be away for two or three days and come home to tea that's still good, it gets a bit tart if you don't drink it and replenish the sugared tea but that's no problem. I've gone a couple of days without drinking any, it's been fine. If I was to go away for a couple of weeks, I'd put the scoby in a smaller quart size mason jar full of tea and store it that way. I'd drain and bottle the tea in the crock so I could store in the fridge. Then I got back from vacation, I'd restart the brewing process in the crock. No problem.
I highly recommend that you google kombucha and read some of the sites. There's a lot of people on the web sharing their KT brewing experiences.
As for talking to your doctor, ask him/her if it would be OK if you took a probiotic supplement and if (s)he says it's OK, then it should be fine for you. You could ask on the Yahoo group, I'm pretty sure you'll find women who've drunk it during pregnancy who would tell you about it. They let anybody interested in KT participate in the newsgroup even if you're still deciding if you want to brew it yourself. The GT Kombucha is rather expensive if you drink enough of it to really benefit from it.
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