Kombucha

=Mary-Beth's Kombucha Presentation=

Useful Links
Maya's Kombucha

[|What is Kombucha?]

[|How to Make Kombucha?]

[|Double Fermentation Method]

[|Choosing Tea]

Getting Rid of Caffeine
All teas, black green and white, contain caffeine. If you are concerned about the amount of caffeine in your tea or in your kombucha you can get rid of much of the it by pre-steeping the tea. Caffeine is highly soluble, so usually 80% of the tea's caffeine content is released from the leaf within the first 20 to 30 seconds of steeping. You can have virtually caffeine-free tea, without sacrificing much flavour, by discarding the water after the first 30 to 60 seconds of steeping and adding fresh hot water to the now-decaffeinated leaf. This will not affect the flavonoid content of the tea. Flavonoids develop over a period of minutes. Steeping the tea for five minutes or more will allow the flavonoids to develop.

[|How to Grow a Scoby?]

Sugar
Remove tea bags and add 2 cups of sugar stirring vigorously until it is dissolved. (This is the only thing in my house we use refined sugar for. We tried brewing kombucha with natural sweeteners like sucanat, honey, or agave nectar, but they all made the final brew take longer and taste sour. There’s no need to fear this refined sugar because it’s basically just food for the yeast.) Let the sweetened tea sit on the stove top until it has cooled to room temperature. This usually takes about 2 hours.