Kombucha is a drink which is said to originate in China, back in 220 B.C, and was supposedly prized for its healing properties. Legend has it, that a physician called Dr Kombu treated the Japanese Emperor with this magical potion, hence the name – Dr Kombu (magic doctor) / cha (tea in Japanese)! …. others claim that it originated in Japan, and was carried in battle by samurai warriors as a vital source of energy and vitamins!
With historical names such as “the tea of Immortality” and the “elixir of life”, we have to wonder what we’re missing out on!?
So, now I have your attention, to make Kombucha we use just tea, sugar, and your new best friend – the SCOBY (head to the SCOBY Gallery to get a look).
Kombucha doesn’t actually taste anything like tea, & with BooChaCha it will always be brewed to the perfect sweet-but-tart spot, as measured & decided by you… if you are patient enough …. so keep reading 🙂
The SCOBY is kind of like a little jelly / pancake, which is added with an acidic starter liquid that it has been stored in, whilst in a dormant state. This liquid stops any contamination, and stores nutrients which it needs to stay alive, and once your SCOBY is mixed with the sweet tea, it uses the sugar as a fuel to wake up and get to work making your Kombucha!
The cool sweet tea mixture is added to a fermentation vessel with the SCOBY, then you simply wait for a time period for the fermentation to take place. The speed of this is effected by various factors such as temperature and amount of starter liquid compared to sweet tea mixture, but is normally 7-10 days once the continuous brew system is up and running!
This is real, pure, raw Kombucha, so its important to introduce it to your diet slowly, and take advice from your GP if you have any concerns about it being a suitable drink for you. Personally I find drinking around 150ml – 200ml first thing every day works wonders, and it really gets me set-up for the day! Your Kombucha will taste good, because you’ve made it, you have full control over when you want to drain it for storage, you’ve seen what you have added to it, it’s totally natural, and its thought to have many associated health benefits, as seen here, but above all it is a healthy substitute for energy drinks, sugary sodas and processed juices!
When you have drained a bottle of Kombucha for the fridge, its easy to get your next batch on the way; you just top the fermenting vessel up with a simple sweet tea mixture, no need to faff about with emptying anything else / cleaning it out (please see the continuous brew info page)! It is important to keep the ratio of starter liquid (left from the previous batch) and sweet tea being added, but all of this is explained in the fun-style-instructions included in every kit 🙂
After you complete the two brew-bundles (approx. 1 month worth of ingredients) included in both the luxury and basic Kombucha starter kits; firstly you’ll be an expert – CONGRATS, and secondly – can I recommend you check out the delicious and ever changing brew-bags we stock! These are giant, ready-to-brew tea-bags, which need to be used with your own sugar, and are intended for use alongside your BooChaCha home-brew station to make Kombucha (although it doesn’t matter if you already brew but just want to try out a brew-bag or two)!
The brew-bags come in different flavours, with seasonal specials and limited editions popping up all the time, and they’re also AVAILABLE ON A SUBSCRIPTION! You can schedule any amount of brew-bags to arrive through your letterbox, once every month, once every 2 months, whatever floats your boat!
Keep an eye on the socials, and online for new releases, I’d hate you to miss out 😛
Obviously you can use all your new knowledge and BooChaCha setup to continue brewing with your own tea, I’d still love to hear about the brew-adventure, and see that beautiful unique hand painted jar in action 🙂
I must say that everything here on BooChaCha is self taught, through experiments / rule-breaking but, if you head over to the story you can read about how my life was changed by the addition of home-brew Kombucha, and I think I have finally found my purpose in life here, building this wonderful brew-crew 🙂
There’s Tons of fun ways to incorporate this healthy drink into your life, over ice with a dash of soda for a Komboochy-mocktail, to soak your next batch of overnight oats perhaps? Keep an eye on the socials for new recipe ideas and inspirations, and if you experiment with something new make sure to let us know with a social tag 🙂
OK, over and out for now, final message – Kombucha is really really good for you, it’s easy and cheap to make at home, and it’s really fun! We should all be health curious, old or young, perfectly healthy or looking for a fresh routine, learn something new today and see what it could do for you!
The Kombucha Engineer.
