This past Tuesday I performed a Kombucha Brewing Demonstration at Slow Food BU’s second potluck of the semester! The demo included a kombucha tasting of fresh, chokecherry, grapefruit, and lime flavors. This was my second KT demonstration for SFBU, and I love teaching others how to brew kombucha so that they can learn how to do it themselves!
It’s a lot cheaper to brew kombucha yourself than to buy it in stores- a 16 oz bottle of GT’s Kombucha at Whole Foods costs more than $3 each. Meanwhile, the main ingredients of kombucha: water, sugar, and tea, are all fairly cheap. I bought a box of 80 organic tea bags for $4 at Whole Foods. I also bought some organic, fair trade evaporated cane juice at the Harvest Co-Op in Cambridge for $1.59/lb. After doing some math, I found out that with those prices, it costs me only $0.17 for every 16 oz of my own home-brewed kombucha tea, and that is when the sugar isn’t even on sale! Of course, the $0.17 doesn’t count for the electricity and time it takes to brew, and there are many more flavors and varieties of teas and sugars that are more expensive. But brewing kombucha is a lot of fun, is much cheaper in the long run, and you can’t get any more local and fresh then brewing kombucha tea in your own home!
I even donated a few kombucha mushrooms at the demo- it’s always hard to part with my SCOBYs, because I become so attached to them! But they were getting crowded in their home, so I knew it was time to part ways.
4 comments:
The grapefruit is definitely the best Kombucha I have ever had. More chokecherry jam is enroute!
And I can't believe how much cheaper brewing it yourself is! Wow!
can't wait for the chokecherry jam! it makes some beautiful kombucha! :)
ok my name is capucine i need step by step instructions ..i went to laurel farms.com a link given by gt kombucha website but right towards the end of the intructions it mentions placing your own mushroom when fermenting..my question is how do i dot it with out having my own mushroom and making it myself?
hi Capucine,
my basic directions for brewing kombucha tea are here:
http://kombuchafuel.blogspot.com/2009/02/one-gallon-kombucha-sweet-and-maybe-not.html
however, if you want to grow a kombucha mushroom yourself, you can just follow the regular instructions for brewing kombucha tea, but skip the step of placing the kombucha mushroom in. if you let the brew ferment for long enough, if your sanitation is adequate, and if conditions are right, a kombucha mushroom should grow. i describe how i grew my own SCOBY here:
http://kombuchafuel.blogspot.com/search/label/experiment%201
(the post on the bottom is first, and then scroll up for newer posts).
typically when you brew kombucha, your starter tea should be 10-20% of your overall brew. if you are trying to grow a mushroom, i would recommend having your starter tea closer to the 20% end.
i hope this answers your question, and if you have any problems getting access to my links, or if you have any other questions/concerns, don't hesitate to contact me! good luck!
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