You may have heard of kombucha, or even seen it pop up at your local supermarket or health shop, but what actually is kombucha and what does it do? We asked Kat Ronaldson, creator of Phat Kat's Kitchen, to fill us in on the facts about this natural probiotic and share her tips and tricks for brewing your own.
What is kombucha?
Kombucha is a naturally fermented tea drink that contains live prebiotics and probiotics to feed and maintain your gut health alongside a well-balanced diet.
It is brewed using sweetened tea and a live culture - we call a SCOBY, as this stands for a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeasts.
As far as recognising the benefits of fermented foods go, Kombucha was originally known as the “tea of immortality” as it was first recorded back in 220BC! The story goes that a Chinese Dr, Dr Kombu had given this fermented tea drink to the Japanese Emperor and this cured him of his ailments, and they gave this elixir the name of “Dr Kombu’s Tea”, tea in Chinese is “cha” which has given it’s more common name of “Kombu-cha” that we see today.
Kombucha is a fizzy drink, with a sweet yet sour tang to it due to the acetic acid produced during fermentation – A great alternative to sodas and high sugar fruit drinks.
What are the benefits of drinking kombucha?
As Kombucha is a fermented product, research indicates that kombucha is a source of both prebiotics and probiotics.
Probiotics are the living microorganisms found in our guts and prebiotics are the dietary fibre necessary to feed our existing microorganisms.
Not only is Kombucha rich in probiotics/prebiotics but kombucha is also an antioxidant.
Phat Kat’s Kitchen uses Green Tea as the main ingredient when brewing kombucha as green tea is renowned for being rich in antioxidants such as polyphenols. Polyphenols are natural plant compounds that can offer various health benefits and are thought to help boost heart and brain health as well as digestion.
Finished Kombucha also contains small amounts of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C and B vitamins such as B1, B6 and B12
Why did you decide to start making kombucha?
Having suffered with an autoimmune condition since I was 12, over the years I have learnt how gut health plays an important part in our overall health.
In order to manage my condition, diet and lifestyle has played an important part and instead of taking lots of medications or supplements I went on a journey to find natural ways to get the same benefits.
A colleague of mine had heard of kombucha before when travelling to Australia and recommended I try it!
I managed to source a SCOBY, brewed up my first batch of tea and I waited patiently for it to ferment. I was very sceptical at this stage as the culture looked like it had come from a nutty professor's lab and I am not the biggest tea drinker so I thought this wouldn’t end well.
As soon as I started to taste it, I was so surprised how nice it was! It’s light and refreshing with a slight palette cleansing sourness at the end. I was shocked that something so healthy could taste so good! Needless to say I haven’t stopped making it since and after sharing this with family and friends I wanted to make this available to others too.
How to make kombucha
Below is an easy formula to make 1 litre of Kombucha. This can be easily scaled up to create your desired number of Litres.
You will need:
• Glass/ Stainless steel brewing vessel with spout. (If your vessel comes with a plastic spout/ spigot, please change this to stainless steel to ensure the plastic is not corroded by the acidity in the Kombucha)
• Muslin Cloth/ breathable covering that can be secured around the top of the vessel
• 2tsps of Organic Loose tea /2 organic tea bags of your choice
• 60g Organic cane sugar
• 150ml / ½ cup of starter liquid and SCOBY. This must be so strong - it smells and tastes like pure vinegar. If you are using a phmeter or pH strips, then this should be between pH 2 – 3.
• Water to fill up to 1 litre. Chlorine free water. This can be either filtered or boiled then allowed to cool longer than 6 hours to ensure the chlorine evaporates.
Method
- Prepare your Brewing vessel. Ensure the vessel is clean and sanitised ready for use. If you have any starter liquid you can spare, I like to use a bit to give it a quick priming rinse. This just means that if there is any leftover sanitiser or soap this will be rinsed with a highly acidic kombucha resulting in less chances of contamination or mould.
- Using a separate jug that can withstand boiling temperatures, place the tea/tea bags inside and boil some water for the infusion. I like to use 25% of the volume desired as hot water, for example if you are brewing 1 litre of Kombucha, there should be 250ml hot water used to infuse the tea. Tea expands in hot water so if you need to add more to keep the leaves covered and free flowing then please do.
- Brew the tea for 30 minutes then strain into the sugar to dissolve the sugar fully.
- Allow the tea solution to cool fully. Never add the Kombucha SCOBY to hot tea as you will kill the bacteria and yeast in the culture, and it will not brew properly.
- Once the tea solution is cool, add this to your brewing vessel along with the filtered (chlorine free water), and kombucha SCOBY. Secure the breathable covering/Muslin Cloth to the top of the brewing vessel. This is to ensure that nothing unwanted can enter the brew, whilst still allowing oxygen to flow. It is vital that Kombucha has an oxygen supply to ferment properly so please do not use a lid to cover or seal the brew.
- If using phmeter or ph Strips, ensure the initial brew is lower than ph4 to make sure that there is no risk of mould contamination at the start. If you are not using ph monitoring equipment then you can taste your brew. It should taste like very sweet tea, with a very slight vinegary taste to it which will start to get stronger throughout the brewing process.
- The fermentation process can take anywhere between 3-30 days depending on how you like your kombucha to taste. If you like very acidic then you will need to leave it closer to 25-30 days. You can start tasting your kombucha from day 3. You will need to put the vessel in a safe place away from direct sunlight and away from where it can be disturbed easily. It does not matter if you store this in a light or dark area but preferably where there is a fresh air flow. Kitchens seem like a good place but if it’s kept next to an oven or an area that is used often then not only is there a risk of contamination but there is a risk of the environment changing too much that it unsettles the cultures.
Temperature and environment can affect your kombucha. Kombucha likes temperatures between 22-28 degrees C. If you’re in a hot climate then your kombucha will ferment faster compared to colder climates. This works the same during winter and summer months. If your kombucha is too cold, it will not ferment properly, and you may need to seek additional heat sources such as a heating mat or belt - you can even use fairy lights around the brewing vessel to increase the temperature slightly.
However tempting it is, do not touch or keep uncovering the cloth to keep looking at the brew. This will only invite more chances of cross contamination and will not help your kombucha. If you keep disturbing it then it will not grow properly. Therefore, it’s important to use a vessel that you can easily pour a little bit out as a sample to taste so that the top is not tampered with.
After a few days you will notice that a “film” covers the brew - this is a new SCOBY pellicle forming.
- Once your kombucha is at the taste you like it then you are ready to bottle! After a few times brewing you will start to instinctively “know” when your kombucha is ready but between 10-14 days is usually the sweet spot. There may be some bubbles at this stage but to get good carbonation then you will need to bottle the kombucha and allow the gasses to build up inside.
You can also buy Kat's kombucha online here:
www.phatkatskitchen.co.uk
12 bottles of the PhatKat's Oringinal kombucha made using butterfly pea flower. Ingredients: Phat Kat's Kombucha SCOBY, Filtered water, Organic Green Tea, Butterfly Pea Flower, Sugar (for fermentation), Ginger Juice.
Make a colour changing cocktail using Phat Kat’s original kombucha
This recipe makes 2 cocktails.
You will need:
• 2 glasses
• Ice – I like to use crushed ice for this cocktail
• Spirit of choice (non alcoholic spirits work too!). A clean spirit such as vodka or gin works best so that it doesn’t overpower the flavour of the kombucha.
• Bottle of Phat Kat’s Original.
• Lemon or lime
Method
- Prepare the ice and add to the glasses.
- Measure and pour your desired spirit into the glass over the crushed ice.
- Next fill with Phat Kats original kombucha and give it a stir.
- This is the best part! Add your squeeze of lemon or lime over the glass and watch the purple liquid magically change to a pink colour when the citrus is added. The reason we suggest crushed ice is that the colour will mix slower creating a multi coloured cocktail. This works great for a party trick if you are looking to impress your guests.