Kombucha. I know it sounds really foreign but truly you’ll love it!
What is kombucha?
– Kombucha is basically a fermented sweetened black tea with a bit of fizz.
– It’s made with a “mother” also known as a “scoby”, a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.
– The scoby feeds off the tea and sugar and reproduces itself for use in the next batch.
– It’s packed with vitality and goodness in the form of organic acids, active enzymes, probiotics, amino acids and antioxidants.
What’s so good about fermented drinks?
They are drinks that have been transformed by live microorganisms (in this case the scoby) to help preserve them, make them more digestible and more nutritious. Their natural probiotics may help improve the function of your digestive system and help strengthen your immune system.
How to make kombucha
Ingredients:
- ½ cup of sugar
- 4 cups of boiling hot water
- 4 black-tea bags
- starter scoby
Method:
– Make 4 cups of tea with the water and tea-bags in a heat-resistant glass bowl.
– Dissolve sugar into the tea and stir with a wooden spoon; allow to cool.
– Add the scoby plus some of the liquid from the liquid in which the scoby was stored in.
– Pour into a large glass jar.
– Secure a clean cloth over the mouth of the jar.
– Ferment at room temperature for at least a week
– After 7-days taste the liquid; if it is still very sweet, it will need to be left longer. Once it reaches the acidity you like, it is ready. Strain and store the liquid in the fridge in smaller jars.
– Use the new scoby that has developed for your next batch and pass on your old scoby to a friend.
As you get use to your new beverage, you can experiment with different teas, using a mix of black, green and flavoured teabags. It makes a great iced-tea served with ice cubes and some sparkling water.