Kombucha Love

Kombucha is fermented tea. We make a giant brew of sweet tea, add a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria & Yeast) and let it ferment. In fact, that's probably how the first batch was made; someone left out a cup of tea, wild bacteria and yeasts enacted upon it, and a SCOBY formed.

Kombucha originated in Asia - probably China where it was known as the Tea of Immortality. It came out on the Silk Roads where it was known as the Tea of Vitality.

Its name comes from a Korean doctor named Kombu who successfully treated an ill Japanese emperor with kombucha. In Japanese, tea is cha and so we have Kombu - Cha.

I began making kombucha twelve years ago. I saw it being made in a workshop, but was so confused and intimidated by the SCOBY and the fermenting process that I asked the tutor for a 1:1 session so I could see it all again! It is so wonderfully weird that a SCOBY - also known as a Mother or pellicle - will grow, create babies and can live for years!

I have beautiful memories from my second pregnancy, of being in the kitchen with my one year old and we're eating sauerkraut and cheese toasties again, and drinking kombucha.

Since then, I have made kombucha sporadically. For a few months each year, I'll pull out a SCOBY and brew. Then I'll put it away again. I love its resilience. As long as the SCOBY is covered in kombucha liquid, it'll last for months and months. Brilliant.

This year, I found myself for the first time in a decade without a SCOBY. After I grieved this, I decided to experiment with an apple cider vinegar SCOBY that I had. Technically, these are different pellicles with unique bacteria and yeast strains and ratios. But I'm always up for an experiment, and I know how playful we can be with our ferments. Turns out, the ACV SCOBY brews delicious kombucha and the Mother has produced lots of healthy SCOBY babies!!

This tells again of the resilience and determination to thrive that our ferments have!

xx Geraldine

Keen to brew Kombucha?

Head to the Shop link for the Kombucha Class ($15) and to purchase a SCOBY ($15).

SCOBY Love!