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IndianDreaming

Kombucha Tea

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Has anyone had any experience with Kombucha?

I bought a little block of culture. It's about 8cm x 4cm x 1cm and looks like a cream white block, There was about 1/2 a cup of fermented tea in the bag with the culture, this is what I did with it:

  1. Boiled 2lt water
  2. Added 3 tablespoons of Sencha Tea and Jasmine Blossoms
  3. Let steep for 15 mins
  4. Removed the tea
  5. Cooled it to room temperature
  6. Added 1 cup white sugar
  7. Stirred it well
  8. Added the Komucha and 90% of the tea it was floating in

I hesitantly tasted the tea that the culture was floating in when I bought it and I was really surprised how good it was! I'm pretty excited to see how the batch goes. Has anyone here tried it? I did find one short forum post in the seed trading section but not much else...

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Thanks Rahli - that's a great link! Did you have a favourite tea you added or add anything after it fermented such as ginger etc...? I'm anxious to drink it, but it's only been in there 1 day...

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When you get excess I would be interested in a culture.

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It won't taste as it does now after it has fermented, it'll be acidic and sour. Pretty much any flavours you enjoy in tea will convert well into kombucha. Ginger, rosehip, berries, cinnamon, apple, pear etc. etc. The flavoured tea bags you can buy in shops (I made a nice one with pomegranate white tea a few years back) are easy to use while you get the hang of it (shouldn't take long, it's really easy as long as you keep the process clean), then you can progress to using actual fruits and spices once you know what flavours you enjoy. After a few brews you'll have plenty of 'mushroom' to share around. Like kefir, the amount of culture you have becomes unmanageable after a while and you really need to give it away.

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I'd be keen to give it a go if I could get a "scoby"

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eBay bro there's heaps.

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What is an actual traditional recipe? I've never seen one quoted.

Obviously ancient china, mongolia, and russia would not have had the white sugar most everyone uses. Emperors and wealthy regional governors may have been able to afford two cups of honey every week of the year but the advertizing hints that it was used by lots of people. Was it A. oryzae fermented rice liquid (the sake precursor) that typically served as the carbohydrate source? That would make modern kombucha quite a different critter, like comparing coca-cola to kvass.

:scratchhead:

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Ive been brewing kombucha for over ten years and i cant get enough of it ..love it ...i alternate between green tea and black tea , i added dried raspberries once , wow!

I have also used the body cubed in stir fries yum!

My usual wait for fermentation is a full lunar cycle or longer it depends on the amount of tea. If you harvest too early it will be too sweet and without the benefits , i like mine pretty vinegary but still tangy .

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Ebay for the scoby = )

Awesome cheers magic dawg incog = )

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I'm a bit of a sweettooth so I'll probably try it at various stages through the ferment.

Rak: I tasted the juice that the scoby came in - it had already fermented completely, probably over fermented, but it was delicious!

Ebay eh? Are there different types of scoby? or is it the same yeast and bacteria in different amounts... I'll utfse and see what I find.

I bought mine from Deano GoodBrew! If you're after scoby, I'd recommend buying from him, A. cos he does a good deal and B. he's a fun bloke. http://goodbrew.com.au/ Check him out riding naked serving beer, magic tea and kombucha

Edited by IndianDreaming

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I brewed it for years, but I haven't done it for ages.

I used to keep my scobys in the fridge while I wasn't using them. One time I had around 12 of them.

I gave it away when I had kids, I had two types of Kefir going and various mushroom cultures so it just got too much.

The thing that ended my enthusiasm for Kombucha was when I read Paul Stamets' take on the "Manchurian mushroom"

Here's a link to Stamets article which is a bit over the top and really a bit paranoid but it did get me thinking.

http://fungi.com/blog/items/kombucha-my-adventures-with-the-blob.html

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Interesting link, thanks Sally. So the long and short of it is: 1) You're taking medicine despite being healthy, 2) If it is antibiotic, you are taking in antibiotics constantly, 3) The 'blob', as Stamets calls it, could be contaminated without you knowing and you'd be ingesting moulds etc., or you could be negligent in removing the mould, 4) It could (in rare cases) cause acidosis. Did I miss anything?

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Ok - So I'm thinking it's over as quick as it begun; Can someone tell if this is white mould spots, or is this what Kombucha does when it gets going and starts to grow? It doesn't smell offensive, slightly tangy, mildly vinegary but not 'off' as such.

post-11189-0-18442400-1376555188_thumb.j

Edit: After much searching and hunting (by my gf who expertly found the answer on the net) It looks like that's what Kombucha does! and that the white spots will join and then happy days!

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post-11189-0-18442400-1376555188_thumb.jpg

Edited by IndianDreaming

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So - The Kombucha seems to be coming along nicely. Mostly because I forgot about it and haven't been fiddling with it and obsessing on it like I usually do with new projects. Here's a couple of progress pics. The smell is intriguing, it's a very mild sourish vinegary type smell, the one where you can't quite work out if its yucky or nice and you go back for 3 or 4 whiffs and still can't decide... I think I'm leaning on the side of, nice but weird...

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post-11189-0-76305900-1376825056_thumb.jpg

post-11189-0-29063500-1376825111_thumb.jpg

post-11189-0-34036500-1376825007_thumb.jpg

post-11189-0-76305900-1376825056_thumb.jpg

post-11189-0-29063500-1376825111_thumb.jpg

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