Kombucha Queen

                   

I learned to brew kombucha last Spring.  A few of my Indonesian friends took me under their wing to teach me.  Well, after they teased me for buying supermarket kombucha at exorbitant prices.  I was surprised how easy it is and how many people find it horribly gross growing on my countertop but have also been buying it at those crazy high prices for years.  

It's a great source of probiotics.  I've had to find natural ways of ingesting probiotics or risk being put on an awful trifecta of antibiotics since the birth of my first child involved a horrible fifth degree tear that caused me to have a Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO).

There are a lot of myths out there about kombucha.  One big one I often have to discuss: Yes, it is technically true that brewing kombucha creates some alcohol content.  The myth: you therefore shouldn't drink it and drive or if under-aged.  This is false and kinda ridiculous.  Home brews usually contain 0.5% and so even if you were trying to get drunk, you'd have a really hard time of it.  I'm not even sure it's possible seeing as you'd have to consume a few gallons very quickly.  You'd throw up way before that.  For comparison, one beer contains 4-6%.  Store bought kombucha might contain slightly more alcohol than home brew because it stays in the jar but in 2010 the FDA regulated it to make sure it could be safely sold.  You are supposed to drink no more than 8-16 oz daily.  More than that might give you the runs.  It reminds me of apple cider in that way.  In fact, many people drink kombucha to help them stay 'regular.'

To gain the health benefits I need I usually drink 8oz a day.  Sometimes I add fruit juice.  I'm planning to add fresh ginger and turmeric this time around.  Ginger helps with digestion and turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory.  

I brew about every 2-3 weeks.  I simply make an organic sweet tea concentrate, fill the jar 2-3 full with filtered water and then transfer my SCOBY over with about a cup of the already made kombucha.  SCOBY is an acronym...Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast.  It builds on layers with each passing month.  You can throw them out, put them in a big jar and call it a SCOBY hotel, or share a few layers and teach someone else to make kombucha.  I'm now a SCOBY QUEEN because I have shared with four people so far...and they have shared with people too.  So fun!  I'm very grateful for my friends who took the time to teach me to make this healthy, money-saving tea.