Natalie's Food 911: How to make a Kombucha 'mother'! SCOBY

Hey all my peeps! I've been buying Kombucha tea for many years now. Ususally waiting for it to go on sale, or buying it occasionally as a healthy treat... since a bottle can cost anywhere from $3.50- $5.00. That's no joke on the pocket book folks. So one day it dawned on me- I make everything else, why not make Kombucha? I had no idea how. I did some research and found out you need a mother culture, called a SCOBY. It means Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. I went to a local health food store, and asked if they sold a mother scoby, and the girl looked at me like I was crazy. I went on to explain, that I wanted to make my own Kombuca tea at home. She spoke to her manager, and no they didn't sell SCOBY's, but knew of a women who made her own and gave me her phone number. Well, the woman was kind enough to sell me a SCOBY, but she lived an hour away... Hmmm. Maybe I would order a SCOBY online.

Indeed they sell SCOBY mother Kombucha mushrooms online. (Not sure why they call it a mushroom, as it is bacteria and yeast, but okay.) I saw different sites charging anywhere from $12- $20 a SCOBY. Thought that sounded like a pretty darned good deal, since in the long run I'd be saving a lot, and be able to drink it eveyday! Well, the procrastinator that I am, I let time slip away... and never ordered the darn thing.

Then I thought, I can make my own yogurt from store bought yogurt as my starter, maybe I could use a store bought Kombuca as a starter... Went online and googled "make your own Kombuca mother". I WAS RIGHT! Others had made their own SCOBY mother mushrooms! Various recipes, similar methods- so I just went with what sounded easiest, and did it my way!

Oh, if your wondering what is Kombucha tea? It is this incredibly healthy probiotic tea! The health enhancing properties are endless. You can google the health benefits, but for starters, check out this site:http://www.gokombucha.com/health_benefits.html.

Making a Kombucha SCOBY mother mushroom

1 bottle 16oz. GT's organic raw Kombucha tea
8 C filtered water
6 bags of organic green tea (or 3 of black tea and 3 of green tea)
1/4 C organic sugar

Again, I saw several methods, but I kept it as simple as I could. I heated 4 cups of the water, just under the boiling point. Take the pot off of the heat. Add 6 bags of green tea, cover the pot and let it steep for 15 minutes. I removed the tea bags, and added the sugar, and stirred until it was dissolved. Next, I added the other 4 cups of the cool water. This step allows the tea mixture to come to room temperature much faster. If you put the raw kombuca into too warm of water, it would kill the living probiotic cultures! I waited nearly an hour, and added 2/3 bottle of the kombuca tea to the pot. Next pour into a gallon jar, or a glass pitcher. Use only glass vessels. I used a vase, and a 2 qt. jar for mine, as I couldn't find a gallon jar- my husband gave them all away:( Cover glass vessel(s) with a paper towel or napkin, and secure with a rubber band.
As I understand, other towels, or cheesecloth might have too large a weave, and allow fruit flies.

The last 1/3 of the tea, I was going to drink- but changed my mind. I just wanted to see if I could make a little SCOBY right in the exisiting bottle. Just a little experiement. I added a sprinkling of sugar right into the bottle, and a bit of filtered water to bring it to 1/2 full. Know what? It worked!!

Green tea is a sensitive tea, and you shouldn't put green tea into boiling water! I used a pot large enough that I could later add the other 4 cups of water. I used organic green tea, as that is my preference, but any green tea would certainly work! Do not use decaf tea, as I understand the SCOBY needs the sugar and caffiene to grow. ( However, I plan to challenge the need for the caffiene in a later experiment.) Don't concern yourself with the sugar in the tea, the SCOBY will actually eat it, so little will be left in the actual tea.

As I write this, I am in week 2 of my SCOBY experiment. I couldn't be more thrilled! All 3 vessels have wonderful looking SCOBY mothers! They look ready to use, but I will wait one more week! Other sites recommended 4 week incubation, but I think because it has been so warm out, my SCOBYs grew faster.
I let the SCOBYs incubate right on my counter, but out of direct sunlight.

I will at that point, post how to make Kombuca tea using the SCOBY mother. As I understand, the tea I have right now, will be dumped out, except for 2 C for the real batch of Kombuca tea... stay tuned!! Check out my growing SCOBYs seen below!

Yours in health,
Natalie