International · Snack
Kombucha
A tangy, lightly fizzy fermented black tea with a gentle sweetness. Brewing it at home lets you control the sugar and flavour.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 10 min
- Total
- 25 min
- Serves
- 8
Calories come from: Carbs 100% · Fat 0% · Protein 0%
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Ingredients
For 8 servings- 8 1/2 cups (2 litres)2,000 gWater
- 2 tbsp8 gLoose black tea (or 4 tea bags)
- 1/2 cup100 gGranulated sugar
- 1 cup250 gUnflavoured kombucha (starter liquid)
- 1 disc100 gSCOBY (kombucha culture)
- 1 thumb-sized piece20 gFresh ginger, thinly sliced (optional)
Steps
- 1
Wash a 3-litre glass jar, a long spoon and swing-top bottles in hot soapy water, then rinse well; avoid metal containers.
- 2
Bring 500 ml of the water to the boil in a saucepan.
- 3
Remove from the heat, add the tea and steep for 5 minutes.
- 4
Strain out the tea leaves (or remove the bags).
- 5
Stir in the sugar until fully dissolved.
- 6
Pour the sweet tea into the jar and add the remaining 1.5 litres of cool water.
- 7
Check the tea is at room temperature (below 30 °C / 86 °F) so it does not harm the culture.
- 8
Pour in the starter kombucha and stir.
- 9
Gently lay the SCOBY on top with clean hands.
- 10
Cover the jar with a tightly woven cloth secured with a rubber band.
- 11
Leave somewhere warm and dark (20–27 °C / 68–80 °F) to ferment, untouched, for 7–10 days.
- 12
From day 7, taste with a clean straw; it is ready when pleasantly tart with a little sweetness left.
- 13
Discard the whole batch if you see fuzzy, dry, blue, green or black mould on the surface.
- 14
Lift out the SCOBY with 250 ml of the kombucha and keep them in a clean jar for your next batch.
- 15
Pour the rest into the bottles, adding the sliced ginger if using, leaving 2–3 cm of headspace.
- 16
Seal and leave at room temperature for 1–3 days to build fizz, opening once a day to release pressure.
- 17
Strain out the ginger if used, then refrigerate and drink within 2 weeks.
Swaps, storage and make-ahead
Swaps
- Use green tea or a mix of green and black tea instead of all black tea for a lighter, more delicate flavour.
- Swap the fresh ginger for a small handful of fresh or frozen berries in each bottle for a fruity second ferment.
- Use organic cane sugar instead of granulated white sugar if that is easier to find, but avoid honey or sugar substitutes, which can harm the culture.
- Use 4 tea bags instead of loose tea to skip the straining step.
Storage
Keep bottled kombucha in the fridge and drink it within 2 weeks, opening carefully as it can be fizzy. Do not freeze the drink or the SCOBY; store the SCOBY at room temperature in its starter liquid in a covered clean jar and use it within a few weeks.
Make ahead
You can brew and cool the sweet tea up to a day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge, then let it come back to room temperature before adding the starter and SCOBY.
Nutrition values are for the recipe as written.
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Allergens and nutrition
No major allergens in the ingredients.
Check the labels of packaged ingredients for allergens and suitability for your diet.
Full nutrition
| Per serving (307 g) | Per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 52 kcal | 17 kcal |
| Protein | 0 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 13.4 g | 4.4 g |
| of which sugars | 13.3 g | 4.3 g |
| Fiber | 0 g | 0 g |
| Fat | 0 g | 0 g |
| of which saturated | 0 g | 0 g |
| Sodium | 11 mg | 4 mg |
Nutrition is calculated from USDA FoodData Central data and may differ from what you cook.
