3 black or green tea teabags
100g sugar
1 litre freshly filtered water
30ml apple cider vinegar (or 50ml raw kombucha)
Kombucha SCOBY, homemade or purchased online
2 – 3 tbsp, freshly brewed Tick Tock teabags
In a large wide-mouth glass jar, make a strong tea using 3 (black or green) teabags and freshly boiled water until the jar is half full. (Kombucha fermentation is an aerobic process, meaning it needs to be in contact with air, which is why we recommend using a wide-mouth 1.5 litre jar.)
Now add the sugar to the strong tea and stir well until it dissolves.
Once dissolved, remove the teabags and top up the glass jar with cold water to make a litre in total.
The infusion should now be warm, which is cool enough for you to add the apple cider vinegar and the SCOBY.
The SCOBY will float happily to the top, sink, or sit on its side. All are fine, as long as within a few days a SCOBY has settled or formed on the top of the sweet tea. If no SCOBY forms you will have to start again.
Cover your jar with a piece of muslin and secure with a rubber band. This will keep the fruit flies away and reduce the risk of mould. Leave it to ferment in a warm, airy but not sun-drenched spot, at about 24–30°C. If it’s cold, your ferment will take many weeks until it’s ready; when warm it will take between 10 and 14 days.
Insert a straw to the side and underneath the SCOBY every day or other day and taste your kombucha. When it’s just the right level of sweet-sour, remove the SCOBY using your hands and place it in a bowl, immersed in some of the newly made kombucha. This SCOBY and the liquid are now ready to be added to a new batch of freshly made sweetened tea. And so, the cycle continues.
Give it a big stir. This will mix in the yeast which usually sits at the bottom and help to make it fizzy.
Steep 1 rooibos teabag in a mug with freshly boiled water. Leave to brew a strong tea before removing the teabag. Spoon 2 – 3 tablespoons into the kombucha and stir.
You can now fill individual bottles, to about three-quarters full, seal them, and leave them out at room temperature for 2–3 days until fizzy. Then refrigerate until ready to drink.
NOTE:When brewing kombucha with rooibos in your base, make sure to also include at least 25% of black or green tea for your initial brew. This is because rooibos doesn’t have fully oxidised tea leaves, which the SCOBY needs to thrive.
