Wednesday, May 21, 2014

My First Kombucha Brew

As part of #TotalDetox2014, one of my goals this year was to successfully brew my own kombucha.

Why kombucha? What is kombucha?

Kombucha tea is made by fermenting sweetened black tea with a flat, pancake-like culture of yeasts and bacteria called the "Kombucha mushroom" or SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). It is not actually a mushroom, but is called one because of the shape and color of the sac that forms on top of the tea after it ferments. The result is a tangy, usually fizzy drink that has numerous health benefits. 

One of kombucha’s greatest health benefits is its ability to detox the body. It is rich in many of the enzymes and bacterial acids your body produces and/or uses to detox your system, thus reducing your pancreatic load and easing the burden on your liver. Because it’s naturally fermented with a living colony of bacteria and yeast, kombucha is a probiotic beverage. This has a myriad of benefits such as improved digestion, fighting candida (harmful yeast) overgrowth, mental clarity, and mood stability. It also has antioxidants that support energy and mood.

Truth be told, I was incredibly intimidated to begin this process. Aspects of it are pretty gross until you wrap your brain around them, and then there's the whole "purposely ingesting bacteria" thing...

This whole process took a little over a month from beginning to end...I started growing my SCOBY from store-bought kombucha on April 14, 2014, and finished recording this video on May 21, with the first batch fully ready to drink and a second batch almost ready for bottling and flavoring!



If the video above doesn't work, you can view the video directly on YouTube here.

Hope you enjoy watching the process, and forgive the shaky camera, ridiculous family moments and sometimes not-family-friendly language ;)



Sources: 1, 2

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