What is Kombucha?

Kombucha is one of the popular probiotic drink prepared with the Kombucha Scoby. Kombucha is a sweet tea mixed with sugar that gets brewed with the application of scoby.

Kombucha starter kit includes scoby also called as mushroom, mother culture, and, black or green tea, and sugar. The scoby bacteria and yeast absorb the sugar from the tea and gives it a fizzy and slight sour flavor. It is very easy to prepare Kombucha at home.

Kombucha starter culture consists of a combination of yeast and bacteria. When fermented with tea and sugar for 7 to 8 days, you will get the fizzy and tasty kombucha drink.

The drink contains a little amount of alcohol because of the fermentation process. Fruit juices, spices, and different types of other flavors are sometimes added to make the drink more tasty and flavorsome.

Although there are a lot of opposite opinions regarding the benefits of drinking Kombucha, it has been widely accepted across the world as a healthy natural drink.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED

• (FOR 1 LITER BATCH) (PROPORTIONATELY YOU CAN INCREASE THE VOLUME OF THE BATCH)
• 1 Kombucha Tea scoby + Starter Tea
• 1 Liter Drinking Water
• 2 Tablespoon Organic Black or Green Tea Leaves or 2 Bags of Tea Leaves
• 4 Tablespoon Sulphurless Sugar
• Rubber band
• Breathable Cloth to cover

PREPARATION METHOD

• Boil the water in a vessel, remove the vessel from the stove and add tea leaves or dip the tea bags and let it remain.
• Add the sugar and dissolve it.
• Allow the brewed tea to rest until the tea reaches the room temperature.
• Pour the clear tea (without any leaves, residue or tea bag) to the glass jar, make sure the tea should not reach the brim of the jar.
• Place the Kombucha scoby disk and pour the starter tea, allow some space between the brim and tea.
• Cover the mouth of the jar with clean cloth and fasten with rubber band to avoid insects.
• Place the jar in a well ventilated room, away from children and sunlight.
• Ferment for minimum 7 days for a light taste of Kombucha tea, maximum 15 days for a stronger taste. You can notice a layer of Scoby (baby scoby) produced on the surface of the tea, wait until the baby scoby gets firm and you smell a pleasant aroma of fermentation.
• Once you are ready to take out fermented tea, save the mother scoby and baby scoby along with sufficient starter tea for next batch.
• Bottle the fermented Kombucha tea and store in fridge for consumption. You can also flavor the tea with mint leaves, basil leaves, ginger, lemon pieces, berries etc.,. after bottling.

Benefits Of Kombucha Tea

Based on the report of most of the scientific studies, Kombucha has proven to be a healthy drink. Even before the advent of modern science, Kombucha used to be consumed by people to treat different types of health issues. Some of the best benefits of drinking kombucha are:

Kombucha is as Good as Green Tea:

Green tea is considered to be the most healthy drink because of rich antioxidants present in it.

Kombucha made of green tea contains the same plant compounds and can provide you equal health benefits.

What is the difference between Kombucha and Kefir?

Kombucha is a fermented tea whereas Kefir is a water or milk based fermented drink.

Incase of Kombucha, an acronym of bacteria and yeast called scoby is used to initiate the fermentation process. Water based kefir is a carbohydrate containing fermented drink. Milk based kefir is usually prepared from goat’s milk, cow’s milk etc.

Though Kombucha and kefir, both the fermented drinks contain rich nutrients, kefir contains more amount of lactic acid bacteria as it is prepared from milk. Kefir should be consumed as a probiotic supplement whereas kombucha is more helpful for treating digestive issues.

Kombucha has a considerable amount of caffeine in it as it is produced from tea. Milk based kefir is a good source of calcium.