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Kombucha Tea Recipe

Read time: 2 mins
Kombucha Tea Recipe
Marlena S. Jan 12, 2022

For the very best kombucha, start with Positively Tea. This ancient beverage is thought to come from Manchuria but has been enjoyed by people around the world for hundreds, possibly thousands of years! It's only recently made its way to the United States, though, and for those of you that might not be as familiar with it, we'll start with a quick primer.

Kombucha is a fermented, effervescent beverage made from black, green, oolong, or white teas. Other teas or fruit juices may be used as well, but the base of the kombucha must be derived from Camellia sinensis (tea) plant.

Sugar is added to the brewed tea base and then fermented by using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, commonly referred to as a SCOBY. The SCOBY (AKA tea mushroom, tea fungus, mother) includes different yeasts and bacteria that turn your tea into the sweet and sour taste explosion that is kombucha.

The base of your kombucha is tea and you simply can't start with a better base than organic Positively Tea. Choose from a huge variety of loose leaf tea to begin your brewing. If you'll be adding other flavors after fermentation, you may want to start with a plain base such as our Organic Assam TGFOP Black Tea. For a more flavorful first fermentation, perhaps our Organic Green Dragon Lemonade Green Tea! Whatever tea you use to start your kombucha, you can be sure you're getting the best organic tea from Positively Tea.

Kombucha Tea

Makes: 1/2 gallon

Ingredients:

  • 12g unflavored black, green, white, or oolong tea (we used English Breakfast)—herbal tea will NOT work.
  • 1 SCOBY, with starter liquid (which contains actual tea from the camellia sinensis plant).
  • 2 cups near-boiling water
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 cups cold water

Instructions:

  1. Start by placing your SCOBY and starter liquid in a large container.
  2. Steep 12g black, green, white, or oolong tea in 2 cups of near-boiling water for 20 minutes. You want your brew to be nice and strong.
  3. Strain your tea into a separate container, add 1/2 cup sugar, and gently incorporate.
  4. Add 2 cups cold water to the tea-sugar mixture to cool it down.
  5. This isn't a step, but it's important: NEVER EVER POUR HOT LIQUID ON YOUR SCOBY. This will kill your SCOBY, and a dead SCOBY can't make Kombucha.
  6. Pour cooled tea mixture into the container with your SCOBY and starter liquid.
  7. Add your remaining 2 cups water to loosen up any leftover sugar. Don't leave this sugar behind! It's your SCOBY's food for the next 12 days.
  8. Add that sugar water to your SCOBY container, cover with a breathable material (we used a coffee filter), and let it rest for 7 - 12 days at room temperature away from direct sunlight. Start taste-testing the mixture around day 7.
  9. Get ready to flavor your kombucha in 12 days! We'll be back then to walk you through the rest.

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