Making kombucha yourself has never been easier! We brew every day in our kombucha brewery and love sharing our experience and passion with you. Although our kombucha starter set is no longer available, you can still make delicious kombucha at home using a few simple ingredients.
To get started, you’ll need:
- 100 ml of liquid kombucha starter (unpasteurized kombucha from a previous batch or a store-bought raw kombucha)
- A certified organic SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast)
- Tea and sugar for the base
- A glass jar and a breathable cloth for fermentation
You can find all these items online or at organic stores, everything you need to start brewing from your own kitchen!
How to make kombucha
Making kombucha starts with brewing strong, sweet tea. Add a SCOBY and starter liquid (sour kombucha) to the tea. This creates the perfect composition of yeasts and bacteria. During fermentation, the yeast and bacteria cultures convert with the help of sugars into acids and aromas. Leave the fermentation at room temperature for 10-20 days.
How does kombucha ferment?
The fermentation of kombucha starts as soon as the kombucha culture comes into contact with sweet tea at room temperature. A kombucha culture contains live bacteria and yeasts. The bacteria are mainly acetic acid bacteria and also, but to a lesser extent, lactic acid bacteria. The yeasts are wild yeasts. The kombucha culture uses the sugars in the tea that are converted into acid (acetic, glucuron and lactic acid), aromas, carbonic acid, cellulosic material (SCOBY) and a small amount of alcohol (about 0.3% or less). When making kombucha yourself, it is important that you let the kombucha ferment at room temperature for 10 to 20 days. Small bubbles of carbon dioxide may form during fermentation. In addition, the SCOBY will start to form on the surface of the drink. Kombucha is made in a glass vase or in a food-safe container. The kombucha culture is aerobic, which means that bacteria and yeasts need oxygen to ferment. It is therefore important never to close the fermentation vase with a lid, but with a cheesecloth. This allows enough oxygen to ferment properly. Fermentation works best in an acidic environment and at room temperature (about 25-30 degrees). The fermentation takes about two weeks, after which the acidity of the kombucha reaches 3.5 - 2.5 pH.