Black Tea Kombucha

An easy black tea kombucha recipe for a homemade effervescent and probiotic rich drink. Made from the simple ingredients of black tea, sugar, water, and a SCOBY.

What is a SCOBY?

If you are new to kombucha, the first thing you’re going to want to get familiar with is a SCOBY. SCOBY is an acronym that stands for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast. The scoby is what initiates the fermentation process to turn regular tea into delicious black tea kombucha. This combination of bacteria and yeast (AKA probiotics) spread throughout the whole beverage eating the sugar, and converting it into acids, alcohol, and carbon dioxide (fizzy bubbles). What you’re left with is really something special.

Where do I get a SCOBY?

Since a well cared for SCOBY continues to grow, each batch of kombucha will form another layer of SCOBY along the top of the brew. Many people remove these layers from the “mother” SCOBY to use in starting new batches. If you are lucky enough to know someone that already makes their own kombucha, they will probably happily share an extra SCOBY or two you. Many serious brewers have a SCOBY “hotel” of extras just waiting to find new homes or uses.

If you don’t have a local connection to a SCOBY and some previously brewed kombucha, I recommend buying a starter from Cultures for Health. You only need to buy a starter culture ONCE. After you get your SCOBY growing, and your first batch of kombucha made, you will continue to use it over and over to create subsequent batches. Just be sure to save a couple cups of kombucha (and your SCOBY of course) each time to get the next jar going.

Buy a Kombucha Starter Culture (Cultures for Health)

What type of container will my Black Tea Kombucha need?

I like to make my black tea kombucha by the gallon. However, you could make it in any batch size, just adjust your recipe accordingly. I prefer to use a glass gallon jar, but I know many people who use a 1-2 glass beverage dispensers, or half gallon mason jars. The advantage of the dispenser is the ability to drain the brew off the bottom of the jar easily when ready to serve or transfer to another container. This works especially well if you want to do a continuous brew kombucha (but I don’t have any experience with that…yet.)

Black Tea Kombucha

(From a An Existing Batch)

Prepare Your Kombucha Equipment

Before you being, be sure your equipment is clean, including your hands. You want to be sure to culture the desired strains of bacteria in your brew, so take some care to keep other bad bacteria OUT.

Brew the Black Tea

To begin, prepare a strong black tea using 8-10 black tea bags in 2-3 cups of water. I use the standard cup tea bags but you can use “family size” tea bags or loose leaf tea. Just make the amount of tea that would be appropriate for one gallon. Allow the tea to cool until it is at or near room temperature.

Mix the Tea

To start your brew, dissolve 1 cup of sugar in 2-3 quarts of cool water. Add cooled tea concentrate and 2 cups of kombucha from a previous brew. Stir to combine.

If you have a little more room in your jar, you can add additional water at this point. Just be sure to leave enough room for your SCOBY.

Add the Kombucha SCOBY

Once your tea is made, carefully add your SCOBY. It is OK if the SCOBY does not float on the top of the tea. It may rise to the top eventually, but even if it doesn’t you have already inoculated the brew with 2 cups of previous kombucha and the bacteria in the SCOBY can still do their job fully submerged. A new SCOBY layer will also form on the top if the original one stays under the liquid. (Yay! Now you have 2!)

Let the Black Tea Kombucha Ferment

Cover your jar with cotton fabric (loose muslin, a small tea towel, or a cloth napkin) or a coffee filter and secure with a rubber band. You want some air exchange to take place, yet still protect your kombucha from contaminates and small insects (like fruit flies).

Store your kombucha for 7-10 day to allow for the fermentation process. The longer you wait the more sour and acidic the kombucha will be.

Choose a place that is room temperature and out of direct sunlight. I keep mine in a cupboard. Also, be aware of other ferments you may have going in your kitchen (like sourdough or apple scrap vinegar) and make an effort to keep them at a distance if you don’t want the cultures possibly cross contaminating each other.

Pour Off The Kombucha

Once your batch is ready, and the flavor is to your liking, you can go ahead and pour off the kombucha you made (reserving 2 cups) and repeat the process to star another batch.

At this point you can choose how you want to finish off your drink. I sometimes put it in a pitcher in the fridge, and drink it plain if it is a milk batch. However, I usually prefer to make a flavored kombucha.

Adding Flavors

Add juices, fruit, or purees to flavor the batch as you desire.

Fresh raspberries, lemon juice and ginger root, orange slices, cranberry juice, etc.

Optional Second Ferment

Many people choose to do a second ferment after adding their flavors and fruits to really bring out the effervescent bubbly characteristic in the kombucha. But that’s another post for another time.