What is Kombucha? What is a SCOBY?

Kombucha has gained popularity over the years for its great taste and healthy nature. Most people have seen the beverage show up in bottles at their local grocery store or seen it on tap at their local coffee or tea shop. Even with its seemingly ubiquitous presence, many people are still unsure about what it actually is. Kombucha is a probiotic-filled, fermented tea beverage that is effervescent and a bit tart. The secret weapon of its creation is something called a SCOBY which is an acronym for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. This pancake looking structure contains healthy bacteria that feeds on the sugar, fermenting the tea, and giving us this delightful libation.

Let’s picture it for a moment. Inside of a large glass mason jar of sugar and tea sits atop a floating pancake of bacteria that smells like yeast. Now I tell you to drink the tea that is inside. Most people would think that’s nuts until they taste it and find out what it actually is.

What is Kombucha?

Kombucha is a fun and fizzy combination of straight green or black tea, sugar from cane, agave, or honey, healthy bacteria, and yeast. This combination is a brew that ferments over time (about a week) as the yeast and bacteria transform the drink into an effervescent, tangy delight. The fermentation process adds a low level of alcohol (0.5%), which is low enough to be sold in stores as nonalcoholic. While this doesn’t sound healthy, the probiotics that result are known to improve your gut health, which contributes to your overall well-being.

Making Kombucha at Home

The great part about kombucha is that it doesn’t have to be purchased from the store in a bottle or from a tea shop from a tap; you can make it right in your own home. It does require a bit of time and patience, but the result is a healthy beverage made your way.

Making your first batch of kombucha will take about a week or so to ferment, and it helps to taste it every couple of days starting around day 6 or 7 so you get a feel for how the flavor shifts from sweet to tart. Expect some trial and error: your kitchen’s temperature, the tea you use, and even the sugar you choose will all nudge the final flavor in different directions.

Here’s a list of the supplies you’ll need

• A Large Glass Jar: no metal, which can react with the acids
• Tightly Woven Cloth: a cover to keep fruit flies out while still letting the brew breathe
• Pure Premium Tea: no additives or flavors
• Sugar: white cane sugar is perfect
• A SCOBY: the mechanism for fermenting *see below
• A warm, dark spot away from direct sunlight.

What is a SCOBY?

A scoby is a round, rubbery, slightly translucent disk of cellulose that acts as the scaffolding that holds cultures of bacteria and yeast. The word SCOBY is actually an acronym for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast and it is the magic that turns sweetened tea into kombucha.

The SCOBY is the heart of the whole operation, so it’s worth being picky about where it comes from. A healthy SCOBY should be thick, pale, and off-white to light tan in color. It should smell sharply vinegary, almost like apple cider vinegar. It should come sealed in a starter tea.

How is Kombucha Made?

Making kombucha starts by brewing about 4 cups of green or black tea. While the liquid is still hot, you’ll want to dissolve about a 1/2 cup of sugar into the tea and then let it cool. Once cool, you’ll slide the SCOBY along with the starter liquid into the jar. This mixture sits at room temperature, away from direct sunlight, for about a week. During this window, the SCOBY gets to work, consuming the sugar and converting it into acids, trace alcohol, and carbonation.

The longer it ferments, the tangier and less sweet it becomes. After the 7 days you’ll want to start taste testing your kombucha every day or so. Once it hits the right balance of tart and sweet, you’ll strain the kombucha out and fill the jar with its next batch of cooled tea. As long as you continue to feed the SCOBY, it will continue to produce more and more kombucha. You’ll even see the scoby grow new layers with every batch.

The Fun of the Second Ferment

One of the best parts of kombucha is how versatile it is once the base brew is ready. During the second fermentation, without the SCOBY, you can add fruit, juice, herbs, or spices to the bottle for a few days making the flavor really come alive. Some favorites include ginger for a spicy kick, ginger-lemon for brightness, mixed berry for natural sweetness, and hibiscus for a floral, tart edge. Because the flavoring itself continues to ferment slightly, these additions also boost carbonation, giving you that satisfying fizz when you crack open a bottle. Once you have added your flavor or you’re finished with your second ferment, placing it in the fridge will calm everything down.

How to Enjoy Kombucha

Kombucha is best served cold, straight from the fridge. A lot of people drink it on its own as a refreshing afternoon pick-me-up, but it also works well as a mixer, think kombucha mimosas or as a soda replacement in mocktails. If you’re new to it, start with a small glass (4-6 oz) to let your gut adjust, since the probiotics can take some getting used to. From there, feel free to work your way up as your taste, and your gut, acclimate.

Where to Buy your SCOBY

Kombucha might sound strange on paper, fermented tea with a rubbery bacterial disk floating in it, but one sip is usually enough to win people over. It’s tangy, fizzy, a little sweet, and packed with the kind of gut-friendly benefits that make it more than just a trendy drink. If you want to get started brewing your own kombucha at home, Fusion Teas not only has high quality green and black tea, but we also have SCOBY that we grow ourselves. Whether you get your SCOBY from us or someone else, do not skimp on the quality or customer service.

The Best Tea for Making Kombucha

There is a huge variety of tea out there and most of it is not great for making kombucha. Your SCOBY needs real tea leaves (specifically from the Camellia sinensis plant) to get the nutrients it needs to thrive. Black tea is the classic choice and often considered the best starting point, since its higher tannin content gives the SCOBY plenty of food and tends to produce a strong, healthy culture. Green tea is a close second, producing a lighter, slightly more delicate flavor while still giving the SCOBY what it needs.

What you want to avoid are herbal teas, flavored teas, and anything containing oils (like Earl Grey’s bergamot). True herbal “teas” aren’t from the tea plant at all, so they lack the nutrients the SCOBY depends on, and oils can damage the SCOBY over time or throw off fermentation. If you’re craving an herbal flavor, the better move is to stick to a plain black or green tea base for the primary fermentation, then add herbs during the second fermentation for flavoring instead.

Here is our list of the best teas for making kombucha at home…

Learn more about the Benefits of Brewing Your Own Kombucha at Home

For more Cultures for Fermentation try Milk Kefir Grains