This is the third and final part in our kombucha series: bottling and flavouring your homemade kombucha. We’re showing you three of the nearly endless ways to flavour your homemade brew!
Now that you’ve grown your own SCOBY and brewed your first batch of probiotic-rich kombucha, it’s time for the fun part: bottling and flavouring this gut-loving beverage. During the brewing step, a new, beautiful, white SCOBY should have formed on the surface of the liquid as the sweet tea transformed into kombucha.
At this point, the kombucha is a little different from the store-bought stuff because there isn’t a lot of carbonation. All the bubbly magic happens during the bottling stage, when the kombucha goes through a second (shorter) period of fermentation.
The first step is transferring all of the kombucha liquid from the big fermenting jar to smaller bottles that can be sealed tightly. During the first fermentation, the kombucha jar is open and the kombucha is “breathing”. During the second ferment, the bottles get capped. As the probiotic bacteria continue to consume the sugars in the kombucha liquid, they release carbon dioxide which will build up in the bottle, resulting in naturally carbonated kombucha. So cool!
Choose bottles for your homemade kombucha that can be sealed really well because that will help the kombucha become nice and fizzy. If carbon dioxide is able to escape as the kombucha ferments for a second time, you won’t get all those desirable bubbles. For our homemade kombucha, we reuse the bottles from GT’s Kombucha that we’ve bought in the past. They work great and they’re free! If you want to purchase bottles for your kombucha project, look for ones that are made specifically for homemade brews like kombucha or beer because these will be able to withstand the pressure that will build up in the bottles.
One of the things we like most about making our own kombucha (besides the fact that it’s super fun and WAY cheaper) is that we can play around with different flavours. Do you have a flavour combo that you love but can’t find in a kombucha at the store? Do you like to experiment with different flavour combinations? Now’s your chance – go wild and create your own one-of-a-kind kombucha flavour. Fruits and herbs in any combination can be used to flavour your homemade kombucha, and you don’t need to flavour your whole batch of kombucha the same; each jar can be something new and exciting!
We’ve experimented with a ton of different flavours, but today we’ll share with you three of our favourites!
First up is lemon, raspberry, and ginger. This flavour is inspired by GT’s Kombucha flavour Trilogy. This flavour is kinda special for us because it was the flavour of the first kombucha we ever tried. We use about a tbsp of fresh lemon juice, frozen raspberries, and a chunk of ginger for this bottle.
Next, we’ve got strawberry and lime, a classic summer flavour combo (and kinda like a margarita). The strawberries give this kombucha a nice sweetness and the fresh lime juice adds some brightness.
Both of these flavours have fresh citrus juice, which the beneficial bacteria must really like because these flavours often become super bubbly.
Lastly, we’ve got blueberry and ginger, inspired from another GT’s fave, Gingerberry. We add a chunk of ginger along with some frozen blueberries to the kombucha and seal ‘er up to ferment for the second time.
For all three of theses flavours, we typically use frozen fruit. We always have frozen fruit on hand, but you can absolutely use fresh fruit if you have it. We also usually just peel and chop the ginger to toss in the bottle, but if you have a juicer you can juice the ginger. Juicing the ginger will give your kombucha more punch and a more intense, spicy flavour.
If you want to take a more relaxed approach to the second ferment of your homemade kombucha, you can simply cap the bottles without adding any additional flavourings. One of the hacks we like to use to flavour our kombucha is to use a yummy 100% organic juice! Just add a couple tablespoons of juice to the kombucha for the second ferment and you’re golden!
What’s your favourite kombucha flavour? We’d love to hear it in the comments!
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Tina is successfully optimizing health and healing illness (and helping others do the same) with the help of her husband, Curt. Read Curt & Tina’s inspiring story, “From on our heels to On Our Heals”. Feel free to send them a message.