Don’t forget to Like Herbs and Oils Hub on Facebook so you’ll get notified every time we find a great new post about Herbs, Essential Oils, Spices, Natural Remedies and Natural Living.
Kombucha is a fermented tea, that is both tangy and sweet. It has a unique taste and is very refreshing. Kombucha is also extremely healthy. It contains high levels of antioxidants, b-vitamins, probiotics and glucaric acid. In this tutorial Kate of Wellness Mama, explains how to first make Kombucha Tea, and then how to make a fizzy Kombucha soda.
In order to make Kombucha at home you need a Kombucha SCOBY. A SCOBY is a Kombucha starter culture. They also call it the Mother or Mushroom. In her article, Katie provides a good resource for buying a SCOBY.
I have a neighbor who loves to make Kombucha in the Spring and Summer. She generally uses black or green tea. But one time she made a batch with chai tea and noticed her SCOBY wasn’t making babies (or growing) the way it normally did. Since she had several SCOBYs, she allowed the batch to ferment. It was INCREDIBLE! So good! However, it seemed to do in the SCOBY.
It turns out that flavored teas such as Red Zinger or Chai may damage the SCOBY because those teas are often flavored using essential oils. Earl Gray contains oil of bergamot, so that may not be a good tea choice for Kombucha either.
Now my neighbor grows, or propagates different SCOBYs in separate batches. When she wants to make chai-based Kombucha, she uses one of the SCOBYs and afterwards it goes to the compost heap.
If you want to learn how to make Kombucha, and fizzy Kombucha soda, which is great for kids, click the link.