kombucha?

[joelbct]

kombucha?

by joelbct » Mar 1st, '09, 13:03

Does anyone know much about this? its supposed to be pretty healthy- bottled fermented black tea w/ probiotics- i think the batch i got may have gone bad..

[Victoria]

by Victoria » Mar 1st, '09, 15:55

I remember a topic with pics from last year sometime. It was pretty nasty.
For now I found this:

viewtopic.php?t=2872&highlight=kombucha

[silverneedles]

by silverneedles » Mar 1st, '09, 17:09

oh my, that was nasty lol

[geeber1]

by geeber1 » Mar 1st, '09, 17:27

I saw a show on the Veria channel the other day (What's Brewing) and they showed how to make your own Kombucha. It was interesting to see how it was made, but they didn't explain what the SCOBY (other than Bacteria and Yeast) was made from. I might be willing to try it once to see what all the fuss is about, but wouldn't want to invest in the materials needed to make it and then find out it was disgusting.

[devites]

Re: kombucha?

by devites » Mar 1st, '09, 18:11

Does anyone know much about this? its supposed to be pretty healthy- bottled fermented black tea w/ probiotics- i think the batch i got may have gone bad..

I have been drinking kombucha almost everyday for the last year or so. I love kombucha. I think i'm going to start brewing over the summer.

[Space Samurai]

by Space Samurai » Mar 1st, '09, 19:00

I've tried kombucha from places like Whole Foods. Tastes like carbonated vinegar to me.

[joelbct]

by joelbct » Mar 1st, '09, 19:38

I've tried kombucha from places like Whole Foods. Tastes like carbonated vinegar to me.

Indeed, the vinegary taste must have been the off-taste i noticed. The Synergy and GT's Kombucha have become pretty prevalent in health-food places like WF, but the kind I had that tasted particularly 'off' was a lesser-known brand. I wouldn't mess around with making my own, either...

[silvermage2000]

by silvermage2000 » Mar 1st, '09, 21:49

I have not tried this. This does not sound pleasant to me.

[entropyembrace]

by entropyembrace » Mar 3rd, '09, 19:19

I tried a commercial kombucha once...I found it extremely acid which the huge amounts of sugar that was dumped into it (during production not by me) did nothing to remedy...I really wanted to give it a decent try but I couldn't handle more than a few sips.

[devites]

by devites » Mar 3rd, '09, 19:48

Kombucha is soooo good. The gingerade by GT Dave's is very refreshing. The taste is strange at first, but I have been drinking it almost everyday and I love it. It is good for detoxifying after a night of partying.

[Susana]

Kumbucha babies

by Susana » Mar 13th, '09, 13:44

I just started making Kombucha about a month ago.

It is super easy. My colleague gave me a SCOBY (which I call my Kombucha baby) that I started out with. One month later I have four cultures! Every time you finish a batch you get another culture.

Water, SCOBY, sugar and TEA!

Right now I have two mason jars of almost finished Silver Needle kombucha. I open and try them every couple of days. They are still too sweet.

So far I have used the following teas:

Silver Needle, Kukicha, dan cong (Ba Xian), Golden Needle

My colleague used Wuyi in one of her batches and she is claiming she will never go back to any other tea!

I recently tasted a Passion Fruit Rooibos that was super sparkly and had just the right amount of sweetness.

[Chip]

by Chip » Mar 13th, '09, 14:51

Gimme some SCOBY!

I am not going to buy RTD Kobucha that I have seen. If I had the cultures, I would give it a go. Is it like yogart cultures?

[meganm]

Re: kombucha?

by meganm » Mar 6th, '10, 13:52

Does anyone have an extra kombucha scoby in or near Milwaukee? I would like to start brewing again. Thanks!

[Victoria]

Re: kombucha?

by Victoria » Mar 6th, '10, 16:19

Here's something handy - cover up that nastiness:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?li ... d=21690089

[nada]

Re: kombucha?

by nada » Mar 8th, '10, 07:21

I made Kombucha for several years until my nomadic lifestyle put an end to it.

I borrowed a heating tray from a friend and a large ceramic container with a tap about 1/3 of the way from the bottom.

I never had any problems with brewing it. From what I have read many problems people experience come from insufficient heat. The little heating trays are inexpensive, inexpensive to run and should give you a trouble free experience.

I mainly brewed Chinese Hongcha & Puerh but also experimented with oolong and green teas with good success.

With the vinegar taste, I think to some degree it's an acquired taste, but with some practice with sugar levels, heat and brewing time you should be able to minimise this to some degree.

I've been meaning to start brewing again. The feeling of wellbeing after drinking it is a lovely experience.