Kombucha tea

Several years ago, while visiting Deb Lentz's farm, she introduced us to kombucha tea, giving us a scoby with the directions to make it. (If you want to get started with kombucha tea and live in our area, we have scobies to give away weekly, just contact us and let us know.)

Now we make kombucha tea twice a week and drink 12-16 ounces a day, a bottle each a day.
It is easy to make and the health benefits are amazing. There is a link at the bottom for health benefits,

For a 1-gallon jar (as in the picture above) the directions are as follows:

one will need:

1-gallon glass jar

cheese cloth or dish towel

filtered water

tea bags (we use green, it must be caffeinated) 

sugar (we use organic)

DON'T USE ANYTHING METAL!!! Metal kills the scoby.

brew 2.5 quarts of sweet tea using 1 cup of sugar and 6 tea bags

add the cooled brewed tea to the starting scoby in the glass gallon jar. Then cover it with a towel/cheese cloth. Place it in a dark corner and don't disturb it.

after 7-10 days pour off the tea into mason jars or some other glass container, leaving the scoby and about 1 cup of tea in the gallon jar. Repeat above in bold.

For secondary fermentation, leave the brewed tea in the refrigerator for another 3-10 days. I add a slice of ginger, lemon and lime or tart cherry juice. It can be mixed with juice or fruits. We used mason jars prior to receiving the bottles. The bottles can be purchased at any brewing store.

Here is a wonderful link with second fermentation ideas
http://www.culturesforhealth.com/flavoring-bottling-kombucha

We have 2 teas brewing one in a gallon jar and one in a 2.5 crock. Many people have continuous brew in the crock as at the following link  http://wellnessmama.com/8638/how-to-continuous-brew-kombucha/
I don't continuous brew. It is easier for us to batch brew due to enjoying the second fermentation; however, we DO LOVE the spigot. If you do use a ceramic crock, make sure the spigot is NOT metal.

Here is a link for health benefits. There are many links on the internet for Kombucha tea, this is one we selected.

http://www.cheeseslave.com/kombucha-health-benefits/
and  http://www.draxe.com/7-reasons-drink-kombucha-everyday/?utm_source=DrAxe.com+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2cb5b75573-Kombucha&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c497e2bf69-2cb5b75573-276650141&mc_cid=2cb5b75573&mc_eid=19041e04da

Great article on the health benefits for kombucha tea
http://www.motherearthnews.com/natural-health/health-benefits-of-drinking-kombucha-tea-ze0z1303zcalt.aspx?PageId=1#axzz2wPPMdvK8

Again, if you want to get started with kombucha tea and live in our area, we have scobies to give away weekly, just contact us and let us know.