Kombucha is a drink that belongs in its own category. It is one of the few non-alcoholic drinks that is created by the fermentation of tea. In short the proces is as follows:
- Brew a tea, just like you would at home and add sugar.
- Add a SCOBY pellicle and kombucha starter (extra sour kombucha). The sweet tea provides nutrition and allows for the bacteria and yeasts to begin the fermentation.
- The yeast and bacteria in the kombucha culture will slowly transform the sugars in the sweet tea into organic acids and aroma's.
- Let the culture ferment for roughly two weeks at room temperature.
After this period, the kombucha is ready to drink. If you want to make more kombucha then you can easily use some of the previously brewed batch as a starter for your new batch.
How does kombucha fermentation work?
Making kombucha starts with brewing a strong sweet tea. A scoby (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) and starter liquid (sour kombucha) are added to this tea. Both the scoby and the sour kombucha contain the perfect combination of bacteria and yeast to ferment the tea into new kombucha. This bacteria and yeast culture convert the sugars into organic acids and aromas during the fermentation.
The fermentation can take 10-20 days and takes place at room temperature. During the fermentation the tea becomes sour and a small amount of bubbles (carbon dioxide) is created. Also, the scoby will begin to form on the surface of the drink. Making kombucha is done in a glass vase or food safe container.
Because kombucha fermentation is an aerobic process, the culture needs oxygen to live, therefore a (cheese) cloth is usually used as a cover. This will keep the fruit flies at bay and the culture gets enough oxygen to transform the tea into kombucha. The kombucha is ready after about two weeks. You can store the kombucha in bottles for drinking, while you can use another part as a starter liquid to make new batch of kombucha. After fermentation, keep the bottles of kombucha in the refrigerator. At low temperatures, the fermentation will slow down/ stop so that the kombucha remains tasty for the longest time.
What is kombucha made of?
YAYA Kombucha is made using a unique blend of organic green and black teas. organic raw cane sugar and a SCOBY. This blend gives YAYA Kombucha a pale golden colour and fresh apple-like flavour, but we also create different flavours that you can find in our shop. We make these flavours by adding organic fruit juice or botanicals to our base kombucha. Our Ginger flavour contains a shot of cold pressed organic ginger juice. When making our Blueberry flavour we add blueberries and an infusion of peppermint leaves. For more information about our flavours, check out the product overview in our shop. Do you want to learn more about what is kombucha and what are the health benefits of kombucha? Read about it on our website!