You are going to need the following:

Cheese Cloth

Gallon sized glass jar

Organic Sugar

Black Tea

Green Tea

Pitcher

Homemade Kombucha Recipe

I stopped over at my friend Michelle’s house (the founder of MyFerrLady) to visit and while I was there, she was making Kombucha. I had never seen Kombucha before, nor had I ever tasted it. I have had several people tell me that I must give this a try and luckily on this day I was able. I was so impressed with it that I asked her to do a DIY video on How she makes her Kombucha and she agreed! You can see the full video tutorial down below.

Have you ever seen a SCOBY before?

SCOBY stands for a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (Wikkipedia, SCOBY 2019). A SCOBY is what makes Kombucha possible. You can see one down below.

Figure 1 SCOBY Starts

To make your own Kombucha you are going to need a SCOBY. If you know of someone who makes their own Kombucha you can get a start from them, most are willing to share. If you don’t have someone like that in your life you can grow your own. You will need a bottle of GTS Kombucha. Your local health foods store should carry kit. It looks like the one shown below. Make sure it is the original flavor.

Figure 2 Making your own SCOBY with GTS Kombucha

To turn your GTS Kombucha into a start you simply open the bottle. Pour out a bit of the Kombucha to give the SCOBY room to grow. Place cheese cloth with a rubber band holding it in place, over the opening and let it sit on your counter for a couple of weeks. After 3 days we started to see a SCOBY starting to form. It was to small to make a full kombucha so let it get to be the width of the bottle before you use it to make your Kombucha.

Directions for 1 Gallon Jar of Homemade Kombucha:

Step 1: Grow or Adopt a SCOBY.

Step 2: Brew 10 bag of organic tea for at least 20 minutes (2 Black and 8 Green works great!)

Step 3: Remove tea bags and add 1 cup organic sugar, mix well

*your tea should be in a gallon sized glass container, make sure that it is very clean. You are growing bacteria and yeast and you want to make sure that you are going the right stuff.

Step 4: Let it to room temperature before adding your start to the tea (SCOBY)

*If you are growing your own SCOBY from the GTS Kombucha the whole contains of the bottle is the “start”

Step 5: Cover your container containing the tea and SCOBY start, with cheesecloth and a rubber band. You want to make sure that no little bugs can get into your tea.

Step 6: Let it sit on your counter for 7-14 days. The time depends a lot on your preference. My friend Michelle let me taste one that she had let sit for 3 weeks, and it was still amazing.

Step 7: After 7+ days you will transfer the Kombucha, excluding the SCOBY and about ½ cup to 1 cup of tea, to your pitcher.

Step 8: Refrigerate and enjoy

Flavoring your Kombucha

I don’t know about you, but I do not enjoy the taste of the GTS Kombucha. That is one reason why I like this homemade recipe. You can make it taste the way you want it to. Next time you make Kombucha try this!

¼ Cup Organic Strawberries

1 whole Grapefruit

1 whole Lemon

Make sure that you wash them very well. Cut them very thin. Add them to your pitcher and let the fruit infuse your Kombucha with amazing flavor!

Figure 3 Shows the process of making Kombucha from right to left.

Thank you, Michelle, for teaching me how to make Kombucha and sharing your recipe!

If you like this recipe check out Michelle’s, MyFerrLady’s Facebook page! She makes the most amazing things and does monthly giveaways!