But it always means that when a batch is done, I have 3 or 4 gallons to somehow store so they stay just right in sweetness, kick and taste. In other words, I don’t want the Kombucha to go sour. Even though you can’t see them, the strained and “finished” Kombucha contains microscopic little pieces of the mother scoby — and they will continue to grow and feed on the remaining sugars in the Kombucha as long as the conditions are right.

What conditions are those? Warmth, sugar and oxygen. Without one of them, the scoby cannot grow and the Kombucha will maintain itself at its current level of sweetness/taste. You can see now that it is very important to store the Kombucha in air-tight containers if you wish to keep it tasty.

I use gallon glass jugs for storing my finished Kombucha. At first, the jugs were working great. When I would open a jar to fill a carafe or a glass, I would hear a satisfying release of pressure, letting me know that the jar had been sealed tightly, not allowing oxygen to travel in and out of the jar. However, over time, I have been hearing less and less of that satisfying “whoosh” — and consequently, our Kombucha started turning sour! Those little scobys were somehow getting oxygen and eating up all the sugar. How could they?

What I think happened is that the lids’ wax linings wore down over time, leaving gaps where air could pass. To solve this I have been tearing off 3 or 4 squares of natural wax paper and putting it between the lid and jar. I tighten the lid as tightly as I can. This seems to be working on all but one of the jars. (See top photo.)

Here’s another idea I have, but haven’t tried yet: melt wax, pour it in the inverted lid, rotate the lid around to distribute the wax, and let it harden. I don’t know how often this would be necessary but perhaps it is a better solution than using the wax paper lid liners?

If you have any other ideas for me, please share! Anybody else have this experience? If you’ve just begun making/enjoying Kombucha, how’s it going for you? Does anybody else feel the heavy-limbs/have-to-lay-down symptoms I do?

I thought at one point that I’d adjusted to the Kombucha’s blood pressure lowering effects, but now I’m back to laying down after enjoying a glass. A good reason for me to take a rest!

Note – I received an email from a friend yesterday. After reading this post, she sweetly reminded me that I could have a potential explosion on my hand from all the built up pressure in the bottles. She is right! However, since we drink the Kombucha in less than a week, I think I’m okay with the risk. I haven’t had any explosions yet! And I do think my jars are not completely airtight. So… please don’t follow my advice for storing the K-Tea in airtight jars if you’re not planning to drink the Kombucha right away. If you know you’re not going to be drinking it soon, the safest place to store it is the refrigerator, as this will stop the scoby’s growth altogether — and prevent explosions from built-up pressure!

To my Kombucha recipe which I posted the other day, I added the above picture.

I also added the stipulation to use raw, organic agave or raw, organic honey.

In addition, I left out a crucial part of the recipe. After this:

“Divide up the brewed tea equally among the jars. Use a glass measuring cup, a mug, or anything else that will help if the pot is too heavy or unweildy to pour directly from it to the jar.”

I added:

“Fill up the rest of the jar with pure water to within 1 inch of the top, at the place where the neck of the jar begins narrowing, but isn’t too narrow. This where the scoby will float and grow; it will fill the entire circumference available to it. If you fill the jar too high, it will limit how wide the scoby can grow. Use a wooden spoon to stir the liquid make sure the water is distributed evenly with the tea. Turn the scoby so the lighter side is floating toward the top. If it isn’t floating at the top, don’t worry, it will rise on its own.”

In case you printed it out and were ready to go ahead, I would not want you to miss this step. I am sorry about the mistake and any inconvenience it caused you.

Update: Someone suggested that honey, being anti-microbial, would kill the scoby. I haven’t seen that happen, but further reading has shown me that it can happen over time. So for that reason, I don’t recommend using honey and I have stopped experimenting with it myself.

I alternate between using plain green tea and jasmine green tea for the tea base. I can’t describe the resulting taste of the jasmine tea, except to say that it is different, fragrant and worth trying just to see if you like it. We do.

For each gallon of tea, you need:

• 6 tea bags (organic green tea or organic jasmine green tea or other tea you prefer)
• 1 cup raw, organic Rapadura (unrefined cane sugar)
• a little less than 1 gallon of pure water (start with 1/2 gallon)
• starter scoby (Kombucha mushroom)
• mature Kombucha tea (about 10% as much as each jar’s volume)
• 1 gallon jar or 2 half-gallon jars
• wooden stirring spoon
• 2 or 3 clean bath/beach towels

You will use 1/2 gallon water, 6 tea bags and 1 cup sweetener per gallon of tea you’re brewing. Put water and tea bags in a big pot. If using Rapadura, add it now. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Cover. Allow to cool to room temperature. To check, insert a clean finger into the tea — do you get burned or do you feel comfortable?

Photo below shows the tea coming to a boil.

Get your jar(s) ready. Put the scoby and enough mature Kombucha to barely cover it (about 10% as much as the jar’s volume) in the jar(s). Cover with a towel to keep out fruit flies, dust, or other contaminants.

Back to the cooled down tea. With clean hands or a utensil, stir the tea. Remove the tea bags, squeezing out any excess (no waste!). Dip in a serving ladle or mug and taste the tea. Try to remember how it tastes, how sweet it is. This will help later on. Divide up the brewed tea equally among the jars. Use a glass measuring cup, a mug, or anything else that will help if the pot is too heavy or unweildy to pour directly from it to the jars.

Fill up the rest of the jar with pure water to within 1 inch of the top, at the place where the neck of the jar begins narrowing, but isn’t too narrow. This where the scoby will float and grow; it will fill the entire circumference available to it. If you fill the jar too high, it will limit how wide the scoby can grow. Use a wooden spoon to stir the liquid make sure the water is distributed evenly with the tea. Turn the scoby so the lighter side is floating toward the top. If it isn’t floating at the top, don’t worry, it will rise on its own.

Photo below shows my 7 gallon-size jars that I keep in rotation in order to have brewing a constant supply of Kombucha. The photo reveals various stages. The three jars furthest to the left are the most mature. The mushroom is floating at the top and you can see the youngest parts (lighter, almost white colored) growing at the top of the floating mushroom. The next two jars to the right were just filled with fresh tea, and you can see that their mushrooms hadn’t yet risen to the surface. Finally, the two jars on the far right are empty except for a bit of mature tea and the scobys — they are waiting for new tea to fill them.

Arrange jar(s) on a clean beach/bath towel in a warm place of your kitchen (near a heating vent or cookstove) where it (they) can rest undisturbed for several days. Wrap the towel up and over the jar(s). Lay another towel across the top. The Kombucha needs to stay warm and be able to breathe, while being protected from dust and other contaminants.

After 3 or 4 days, unwrap the jar(s). Feel free to do it sooner, depending on how warm your house is. The warmer your house, the faster the tea brews. Does the scoby look healthy? Has it risen to the top surface of the tea? Is it growing a lighter-colored layer on top of the older, darker part? Is its surface smooth? Are there little brown sugar castings (that is what the scoby leaves behind as it eats the sugar)? Are there little bubbles in the tea (natural carbonation)?

My friend who taught me how to make Kombucha said that they only bad thing for which you must watch is fuzzy mold (like on bread). This has not happened to me yet, and I pray that it won’t.

Now taste the Kombucha. Remember how it tasted on the first day? Very sweet likely, with not much else distinguishable. What you’re looking for now is that it has a kick to it, like a wine cooler. It will still taste sweet, but not sooo sweet. Just mildly sweet and then have a bite to it. It should also be naturally carbonated and if you feel a good urge to burp, yay! If it tastes sour, it has likely brewed too long.

If it has brewed too long and tastes too sour, continue on with the directions to pour the tea off into storage containers, but add more sweetener to taste and let it re-brew for a few days.

If it is still very sweet with no kick, wrap up the jar(s) again and let the tea keep brewing a few more days. Check it daily to see if it is done yet.

If it is ready, you’re ready to pour it off into storage containers. Otherwise, let it go a few more days. I believe the average is 5 to 7 days or longer. My tea tends to be done in 4 or 5 days.

Using a funnel to strain out the scoby solids floating around in the tea, pour the contents of the jar into a storage jar. This Norpro 5 1/2-Inch Stainless Steel Funnel with Detachable Strainer is a fantastic funnel to help with this task. For storage jars, use canning jars (1/2 gallon, quart, etc.) or 1 gallon jugs (such as is pictured below). Leave the scoby and enough mature Kombucha tea to cover it in the jar.

The now almost-empty jars should be lightly covered with towels as they wait to brew a new batch of Kombucha. It will be fine for many days, but why wait to start more of this delicious tea?

New scobies will grow in the storage container. There is more sugar to eat in the tea, and the scoby particles that are too small to be caught by the funnel are still there and more than happy to do that job. So as you pour off smaller amounts for your daily drinking, strain once again with the Norpro funnel. I typically keep a carafe full of tea out on the counter for people to drink throughout the day. I fill it up as it gets emptied.

Photo below shows a 1-gallon storage jug and a carafe full of just-strained Kombucha for our immediate drinking.

And here I’ve just poured my Kombucha which I will drink while I eat breakfast.

Here are a couple of other notes.

After brewing numerous batches, the scoby can be quite large. I keep my scobys about 1-inch thick. When they grow thicker than that, I peel off the bottom layer (keeping the newest growth in the jar) and feed it to the goats. Some of our goats absolutely love to tear into those mushrooms. Or you can compost it. Or you can share it with someone who’s wanting to start brewing their own Kombucha.

Also, I don’t wash my jars in between batches. I will wipe down the outside of the jar(s) after pouring off a batch. As long as the Kombucha keeps producing well, that means there is a healthy culture growing in the jar. If I had a bad batch (not just sour, but bad/moldy), I would wash and sterilize and start over.

After speaking with my friend, who has the expertise of making and enjoying Kombucha for more than a year, I am concluding that I feel comfortable with my children drinking the tea. I also feel comfortable with the blood pressure lowering effects, to which my body is adjusting for the most part.

Today, I am starting new batches of Kombucha, amounting to 3 gallons, and I am sweetening them with half-honey and half-agave.

Kombucha Library at Happy Herbalist

It was nice to meet with someone who shares my appreciation for doing things simply. She “cooks” her Kombucha wrapped in towels on a shelf over a heater vent, which makes it cook in 3 or 4 days instead of a week or more. I don’t have a shelf over a heater vent, so I set my Kombucha jars, begun Friday evening, on the counter wrapped in towels. The jars are next to the stove, so they feel that heat when the stove is on.

I started 3 gallons. Two gallons are pictured there, in 1/2 gallon jars. Cut out of the picture is another gallon jar. The pictured jars are sweetened half with blackstrap molasses and half with local wildflower honey. The non-pictured jar is sweetened entirely with wildflower honey. I used organic green tea for the tea. The recipe calls for cool tea made from 6 tea bags and 1 cup of sugar per gallon of Kombucha. Since honey is twice as sweet as sugar, I used half the amount of honey. That means (per gallon) of the molasses-honey sweetened tea: 6 tea bags, 1/2 cup of molasses, 1/4 cup of honey. In the gallon of honey sweetened tea: 6 tea bags, 1/2 cup of honey. I added some more honey for good measure. The scoby has to have plenty of sugar to grow.

I worry (slightly) if I’ll be able to tell when it is done or not. I tasted it last night. Tasting good. I’m looking for the perfect balance of tang, not too much, but definitely there. I’ll taste again tonight and (maybe) surprise Jeff with a glass. He’s waiting for it!

The kids are going to be doing their yearly standardized testing on Friday, so that is when I will visit with my friend to see what she’s doing.

“Kombucha” at Wikipedia…

I put double the amount of herbs in my French press (or 2 cups). I pour boiling, pure water over all of it. I fill a pitcher with 2 trays’ worth of ice cubes. After the tea has steeped for about 15 minutes, I pour all the tea into the pitcher. Then it goes in the refrigerator to finish chilling. Sweeten to taste.

I am serving each of us 2 cups per day of nettle-mint tea. I mix the dried nettle leaves with equal parts dried peppermint leaves, so it tastes refreshing.

When fresh, the leaves and stems are covered with sharp, tiny hairs that poke the skin and release rash-causing and stinging compounds, resulting in a burning rash that can last for up to 24 hours. Naomi ran into stinging nettles when she was about 4 years old. It was painful, but thankfully didn’t last long.

I read once that Roman soldiers, in the cold, would rub their legs and hands with the fresh leaves. The resulting rash would burn and warm them.

Nettles grow all over the country. I have a friend who goes with her family to a place they know of to harvest enough to last them for a year. They dry them out and then run their hands over the stem to break off the leaves, which are then used for tea.

When dried, nettles lose their sting. Nettle leaf suppresses the immune response. I feel clear for several hours after drinking my strong brew. This website says nettles are also high in iron and therefore good for the treatment of anemia. That’s a nice surprise.

Nettle-Mint Tea for Allergies

makes 12 cups

My brew is strong because that is how we like it. Adjust to match your tastes. I make this batch in my Bodum 12-cup French press. Use a teapot if you like; strain out the leaves with a tea strainer.

• 3/4 cup dried organic nettle leaves*
• 1/4 cup dried organic peppermint or spearmint leaves*
• boiling, pure water to cover
• raw agave syrup, raw honey or xylitol (optional, for sweetening)

Put herbs in bottom of French press. Pour boiling water over. Cover. Do not press down. Let steep 10 to 15 minutes. Press. Pour into cups and sweeten, if desired.

Store leftover tea in the refrigerator. Consume within 24 hours by reheating or drinking iced. Don’t store it in the French press or it will become bitter.

Iced Tea Variation: Put double the amount of herbs in the French press (2 cups total). Pour boiling, pure water over all of it. Fill a separate pitcher with 2 trays’ worth of ice cubes. After the tea has steeped for about 15 minutes, pour it into the pitcher. Put in the refrigerator to finish chilling or serve over ice immediately. Sweeten to taste.

*Or use 1/2 cup nettle leaves and 1/2 cup mint leaves, depending on your taste.

© Copyright 2007 by Wardeh Harmon

image courtesy of lifeinitaly.com

We are tea drinkers. Coffee drinkers on occasion. This 12-cup French press was made for coffee and tea. But I think it was made for me.

I put the loose tea (usually Daily Health Herb Tea) in the pot along with xylitol for sweetening — pour boiling water over all up to the top — put the press on the top (but don’t press down) — let it steep for 5 to 10 minutes — press down — all the tea is trapped under the fine sieve — pour out hot, healthy, yummy tea into each cup. No mess, no drips, no loose tea leaves. The press insulates the contents, keeping them hot for 2 hours. It cleans up so easily. I hand dry it after washing to prevent hard water spots.

Thanks, Mom & Dad!