Kombucha

Method

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1. Bring 1 litre of the water to a boil, take it off the heat, add the tea and steep 10 minutes.

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2. Remove the tea, stir in the sugar until dissolved, then add the remaining 1 litre of cold water.

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3. Let it cool to room temperature completely. Hot liquid will kill the culture, so check it with a finger rather than guessing.

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4. Pour into a clean 3 litre glass jar, add the starter liquid and slide the SCOBY in on top.

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5. Cover the mouth with a tight-woven cloth secured with a rubber band — it needs air but not fruit flies — and leave somewhere warm and dark, 20 to 26°C.

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6. Leave 7 days, then taste through a straw pushed past the SCOBY. It should be pleasantly sour with only a trace of sweetness. Give it another day or two if it is still sweet.

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7. Lift the SCOBY out into a clean bowl with 200 ml of the liquid, ready for the next batch.

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8. Divide the fruit between four swing-top bottles, fill with kombucha leaving 4 cm of headspace, and seal.

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9. Leave at room temperature 2 to 3 days, opening one bottle each day to check the fizz. Refrigerate as soon as it is carbonated — this stops the ferment.

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Chef’s Tips

• Glass and plastic only, never metal, and no antibacterial soap anywhere near it. Both harm the culture.
• "Burp" the bottles daily. A forgotten second ferment in a warm kitchen can build enough pressure to break the bottle.
• A brown, stringy growth hanging off the SCOBY is yeast and is normal. Fuzzy blue or green spots are mould — throw the whole batch away and start again.

Common Substitutions & Variations

• A quarter-teaspoon of ground ginger per tablespoon of fresh is the standard ratio if you are working from the spice rack rather than a fresh root.

Pairing Suggestions

• A hot afternoon
• Rich food
• Instead of a beer

Storage & Reheating

Refrigerated for a month; the fizz fades slowly. The SCOBY keeps indefinitely in a jar of finished kombucha.

Common questions

Nutritional Highlights

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list. Treat these as an estimate — brands and cuts vary.