Kombucha fan? Learn how to grow your own SCOBY so you can start brewing delicious, probiotic-rich kombucha at home! Super easy to do, growing your own SCOBY requires just a few ingredients, some time, and a little love.
Friends, let’s talk kombucha.
An absolute fave in our home, this fermented sweet tea has gained popularity over the last several years for its probiotic benefits, sweet flavour, and crisp carbonation.
I’ll never forget my first taste. It was shortly after Curt was diagnosed with MS and he brought home a bottle of GT’s Trilogy, urging me to try it. After my first sip, I burst out laughing. I couldn’t believe how good it was! We’d never been huge soda drinkers, but this bottle of kombucha had the same satisfying thirst quench that a Pepsi would have on a super hot day. But, it wasn’t overly sweet and was actually healthy. Just like our beloved Homemade Sauerkraut, kombucha is rich in probiotics: the good kind of bacteria that help to keep your gut buddies in check.
Kombucha is easy to get your hands on these days and you can get yourself a bottle for about four bucks. At four dollars a pop though, this new treat of ours started to get prettttty expensive, so like many things in the kitchen, we decided to take a go at making it ourselves.
We’ve been brewing our own homemade kombucha for four years now and love it. We love the process, we love the results, and we love that the flavours of our home brew are endless!
Although it may seem intimidating, kombucha is actually quite simple to make with just a few ingredients: green or black tea, sugar, and a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).
The SCOBY—sometimes referred to as a mother or mushroom—is what makes all the magic happen. The SCOBY is a live culture that transforms sweet tea into a healthy probiotic beverage by feeding off of the sugar and caffeine in the tea, and populating the liquid with beneficial yeasts and bacteria.
Now, you might be wondering: where the heck do you get a SCOBY?
- You can buy one. We’ve seen them sold in health food stores and at the farmers’ market, or you can purchase dehydrated ones online.
- You can get one from a friend or someone else that brews kombucha. The neat thing about kombucha is that every time you brew a batch, a new SCOBY forms on the surface of the tea during the fermenting process. People who regularly brew (like we do) often have an abundance of SCOBY so it’s not uncommon to see them offered for free on local buy and sell websites.
- You can grow your own. That’s what we did four years ago and now we’re gonna show you how!
It takes a couple weeks to grow a SCOBY, but it’s very inexpensive and simple to do. When you combine some unflavoured raw kombucha with sweetened tea, the good bacteria and yeasts found in the kombucha thrive on the sugar and caffeine in the sweet tea, and a SCOBY will begin to form. It’s pretty neat!
As the SCOBY begins to grow, the surface of the liquid will first become cloudy and then gradually develop into a white, rubbery-like disc. Once you have a well formed SCOBY that is thick enough to handle (at least a few millimeters thick) you’re ready to brew your first batch of kombucha!
We’ll give you a few weeks to grow your own SCOBY and then share with you the next steps: brewing and bottling your homemade kombucha. Stay tuned!
Do you love Kombucha? Are you excited to make your own at home?
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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.