Kombucha — ¶

Today is the day. I am finally welcoming a new scoby back into my home. It’s been a looong time. A long time during which I tasted many different kombuchas available at local organic stores. I guess you could call this research. My absolute favourite is the maracuja & lemon kombucha from the brand Voelkel. Only available in very few stores but incredibly tasty and refreshing. At some point, I’ll aim to make my own maracuja kombucha, but for now, I am focused on growing a new scoby and the first fermentation step. I can’t wait to be the owner of a scoby hotel again. (In case you live in Berlin and need a scoby, reach out!) ¶

For 1 litre, brew 9g of black tea for 15 minutes. Filter the tea leaves out and add 100g of sugar. Stir until the sugar is diluted and let cool fully. Add your scoby with a minimum of 100ml of kombucha starter liquid. Cover with a clean towel and seal with a rubber band. Leave aside for a few days, until your new scoby starts to develop on top of your jar. ¶

(To make things clear: the starter liquid is the result of the first fermentation step. That means that after the first brewing step, you are able to use some of the liquid and a scoby to brew a new batch. There is no ending to brewing kombucha (!) Every new batch of kombucha comes with a new scoby. Now imagine how crowded the hotel is after only a few months of brewing.) ¶

12.03.25 — Update ¶
Everything worked as planned. I waited 20 days before taking it to step 2. I prepared a new batch of tea as described above. And as for the first batch of brewed kombucha I didn’t want to make anything special with it. I wanted to try the pure taste of tea. I transferred the kombucha in a bottle and put it in the fridge for 3 days. I liked the taste a lot. It was surprisingly sweet. Note for next time: I need to find a way to optimise the fizziness of the kombucha. The fizz comes from the carbon dioxide the yeast produces when it metabolises sugar. Maybe adding fruit and/or honey will help. ¶

These weeks, I am very much into saffron and I want to make saffron kombucha. That’s what I will do with the next batch. Updates to follow. ¶