How to Brew Kombucha.

Kombucha is fermented tea, made by using a SCOBY of "Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast". The SCOBY is often referred to as a Mother or a mushroom. It is basically a living organism that eats sugar and caffeine(from tea) and converts them into an acidic, healthy beverage with lots of vitamins and minerals. The tea has been used since the 19th century for many medicinal purposes.
A kombucha mother is easily acquired becuase the grow rapidly and are hardy organisms. Daniel and I had the opportunity to brew with one of our classmate's mothers, but one can be grown from a commercial kombucha drink which almost always contains a small part of the Mother. The part of the Mother know as a baby regenerates its self and can grow into a Mother in a matter of a few weeks.
Below is a picture of the existining kombucha operation that we worked on.

Kombucha needs three things two grow and ferment:

1. Sugar (organic sugar is preferred by most drinkers and brewers)

2. Tea (caffeinated tea is a must, other than that it can be an flavor or variety, we chose Pomegranate)

3. Water (filtered or purified water is also preferred)

Once you have all the ingredients and the Mother, you will need to wash the Mother and the Jar it is in. Using room temperature water we gently rubbed the Mother by hand, removing any speaks of tea leaft over from last batch of kombucha. Regular dish soap was used in the cleaning of the jar. We used a small orange colander to drain the water and keep the Mother off of the bottom of the sink for sanitation purposes.
note: wanding good energy into the mother is optional.

Since the jar that the Mother is in holds two gallons of liquid, we brewed two gallons of tea. We had to split up the water on the stove because we didn't have a pot that held both gallons of water. Sixteen tea bags we used in all, eight in one pot of water and eight in the other. The rules is eight tea bags to one gallon of water and one cup of sugar to one gallon of water. Make sure to squeeze all the remaining water from the tea bags. Also the sugar should be added to the tea when the water had cooled to room temperature. Make sure the sugar is well dissolved before adding the brew to the jar with the Mother.

Add the brew to the mother after it has cooled to room temperature because the Mother is heat sensitive and can be damaged by hot water. Wait 7 to 12 days as the fermentation process takes place, and enjoy!! And be healthy!!!