Most of the people have heard of Kombucha by now. Some people drink it for its health benefits, however store bought kombucha can be quite expensive. So I want to share easy Kombucha recipe for home brewing.
I want also to share insight why I enjoy drinking and brewing kombucha at home. It has very little to do with its health benefits. There are some research made to sought what it actually can do for your body, but it does not interest me as much as the mindful part it has taught me.
What is Kombucha
I’m not going too much into detail of what Kombucha is. But to begin Kombucha is unflavoured black tea mixed with sugar and bacteria and yeast, that is then fermented at least for one time. (You brew kombucha. 2022) Kombucha is slightly fizzy drink that has very little calories, due to the fermentation process that is eating away the sugar from the tea. Store bought kombucha can be found in so many flavours, however if you brew your own kombucha at home, you can be even more creative with flavours.
Kombucha is claimed to have certain benefits to our health. However there is not much back up by science. I would suggest everyone do their own research and then let people make their minds. I don’t believe most of those claims and for me kombucha is just to enjoy lovely moment with little fizz.
Kombucha for Mindfulness
So now I can finally get to the part, Mindfulness in brewing kombucha. You may not be able to always see every point of every action we do. At first I didn’t think much about it, but later after started to add little mindful practises into my mourning routine, I learned much more about my own surroundings.
Brewing kombucha takes a while to do it. It asks patiences with yourself. It takes approximately 10 days to finish the first fermentation, then to think what kind of flavour combinations you wish to try and then the second fermentation to create the beautiful little fizziness into the drink. This is a great way to improve your patience. I can tell you I have a very short patience, I like to get things without waiting. Therefore brewing my own kombucha has taught me so much about myself and more like to embrace and appreciate the time it takes.
Another way how brewing my own kombucha has taught me to be more mindful is to be more grateful of the end product. Putting more thought and heart into the process gives a better joy of the kombucha when I get to drink it.
Conclucion
Making foods and everything we consume from the scratch is very important to me and I enjoy the process of it. It has given me a different kind appreciation to the food we eat. I want to try to make everything I can myself and that way also avoid ingredients that processed foods uses and they are not great for our bodies.
Making my own kombucha is enjoyable. I don’t drink it everyday so I don’t brew huge batched at a time. But when I get to enjoy glass of homemade kombucha, I do it as a part of my self-care.
Home brewed Kombucha
Equipment
- 2L Jar
- 1 cloth
- 1 elastic
- 3 500ml round glass bottles for carbonated drinks
Ingredients
- 5-6 Cups Water
- 3-4 tea bags
- 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
- 1 Cup Starter tea
- 1/4 cups fruit juice of your choice
Instructions
Kombucha
- Boil half of the water in a pot and add the tea bags and sugar in to the pot. Mix until the sugar has completely dissolved into the tea and let the tea steep for 8-10 minutes.
- After let it cool down a little. pour the other half of the water to the 2L and after the sweetened tea has cooled down a little pour it into the glass jar. Remember always to pour the cold water into the jar first so the sudden temperature change won't crack your jar.
- When the tea in the jar is about room temperature pour in your starter tea and pellicle (scoby). Make sure the tea is not too hot, otherwise it will kill all the bacteria you have in your starter tea and the kombucha won't fermentate. Cover the jar with cloth and secure it with the elastic.
- Set the jar away from direct sunlight and let the tea fermentate. Approximately around day 5 start tasting your tea. When the tea has slight tanginess and not too sweet the first fermentation is ready.
Second fermentation (optional)
- Prepare the 500ml bottles with fruit juice in the bottom.
- Remove the pellicle from the jar and the new pellicle that has formed on top of the tea. Mix the tea properly to get all the yeast from the bottom of the jar and remove 2 cups of the tea aside for your new batch of kombucha.
- Pour tea to the bottles until the neck of the bottle and close tightly the lid. let it fermentate for about 3 days in room temperature and after that place in the fridge. After it's chilled open the bottle and check if the carbonation is enough. I normally do the second fermentation for 3 days and it's perfect for my taste. However if you feel like the carbonation is not enough place the bottle in the room temperature for few more days
References
1. “What is kombucha”. You brew kombucha (no date). Retrieved on 5.2.2023
2. “What is Kombucha tea? Does it have any health benefits?” Mayo Clinic (24.8.22). Retrieved on 6.2.2023
3. “What is kombucha” Happy kombucha. (no date). Retrieved on 7.2.2023
