Comments on: How to Brew Kombucha — Double Fermentation Method

By: Meredith

Meredith — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:01:13 +0000

I am preparing to return to work in a national park. I am wanting to take my mother with me to brew more tea. I am trying to decide if there is a way to get it up there with me safely as the only ways to get there are by hiking 5 miles or helicopter. Will the jossling of hiking that distance by harmful to it? And is there a temperature range that it should stay in? It will most likely be very cold during the hike or copter ride. Thank you for you help!!!

By: Retha

Retha — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:49:37 +0000

I am trying to loose weight, won’t kombucha let me gain ? What is the nutritional value, especially the energy per 100ml?

By: leah

leah — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:28:24 +0000

I started brewing a week ago tomorrow,and I just peeked at my brew and it looks like mold is growing on it!! So upset.Any tips or a way to save it?

By: Christine Z

Christine Z — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:36:43 +0000

Love your site. Thanks for sharing this recipe with others. I’ve been making KT for a few years and have a couple tips. 1) Make a concentrated hot sweet tea using only 4 cups of water and the rest of your ingredients as indicated, and then use your remaining water “cold” to dilute the concentrate and bring the water temp down quickly – avoids waiting around for the whole gallon to cool before adding the SCOBY. With this method you can have a gallon jar of KT brewing on the shelf in about 20 minutes! 2) Organic paper coffee filters work great to cover your KT brewing jars – just secure with 2 rubberbands (two, in case one breaks when you are not looking!)

One other note: I believe Sallon Fallon advises against using Lipton tea due to the high fluoride content (see her Nourishing Traditions book). If you can get it, organic unflavored teas would be best.

Good luck everyone with your KT – it is a wise investment of your time – you won’t be sorry!

By: the wench

the wench — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:57:58 +0000

First of all, thank you for breaking down the kombucha process into manageable, bite-sized pieces. Following your instructions to the letter was not really feasible (my husband likes it arctic in this house), so although my fermentation has taken far longer than anticipated, the result is delicious! I’ve gotten some of the cooks at work to taste GTs, and they are now demanding my old scobies when the babies are born.

Now, for the confessions part of the post: I neglected to read others’ posts about alternative teas before starting my own hibiscus tea brew. I guess I gotta keep a close eye on it…

By: Susy O

Susy O — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:39:56 +0000

I am so excited, my boyfriend and I were buying the GT’s at least once a day, spending a crazy amount of money! We talked about researching to make our own for a while, but I finally found this site and was inspired to start today! We went down to our Food Co-op and bought the essentials (fair trade sugar and GT’s kombucha). Then we went to our local tea house and bought some green tea fresh from the hills of China.

So we put some stuff together today for a scoby, but we live in Southern Arizona, and it is unusually cold this year. We’re going to be patient, and let you know how it all turns out. And I love that you posted a recipe including fruit juice because I have a juicer that I am dying to try out!

Thanks so much for your posts, my boyfriend and I are food renegades and we didn’t even know it! I look forward to reading all of your posts, and hope that this idea of fresh/local untainted, traditional food can be embraced by more and more people through information and much convincing! (I am in my early-twenties, and my parents scoff at my way of eating, they say that I am being stuck up when I politely refuse to eat processed beef from Safeway. Oh well, I can only inform them with facts…)

By: linda

linda — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:58:05 +0000

Can you tell me if the sugar is “eaten” by the yeast, what is the sugar content of the final product? I have finally kicked my diet coke habit of 30+ years, it was called Tab, back in the day, anyhow, I am trying to eat Paleo, ie, no liquid sugars, sweet drinks, fruit juice, they want you to eat the actual fruit, get all the fiber and goodness that way, instead of the calories for 3-5 oranges in one glass of OJ. It all makes sense, but I could use some of the benefits of this kombucha. Energy, regularity, fizzy drink, so can anyone tell me about the calorie/ sugar count in the end product? sorry to ramble.

By: dawn

dawn — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:55:00 +0000

To make ginger kombucha just put a piece or two of dried ginger in your smaller bottles of kombucha for the second ferment time. Tastes great and no mess!!
You don’t do anything as far as flavoring during the main brewing time and no flavored teas either. Only black or green tea.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:51:22 +0000

I am starting my first batch of kombucha and before I read not to use herbal tea, I bought some Yogi ginger root tea to mix in with black tea since I prefer ginger kombucha by far. Will this screw things up? Will I have to chuck my scoby or can I just do it better next time and trust that the scoby will improve? Thanks!

By: laila

laila — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:03:49 +0000

thanks for the VERY clear instructions – the best i found! can’t wait to make my first batch
btw, i bought my SCOBY mom from someone on craigslist who was nice enough to give me a few extras in case i kill one or two. can i store these lovely ladies in the fridge for a while?