kombucha … finally

this was originally published October 6, 2020

welp. i fucking did it. im brewing my own kombucha.
shout out to Ife, founder/owner of The Fit In, for providing me with a scoby hotel! when she handed it over, she commented that she was excited to see what flavors i would come up with. i told her nah, im keeping it simple, i have a lot to learn about booch. well. first batch in and im a big fucking liar 🤥🤗! im going in on the flavors and its SO much fun.

have you ever thought about making kombucha? get ur set up together and then let me know, i have a scoby for you! i found this comprehensive written tutorial really, really informative. this video from munchies and this one from Its Alive were great intros (watch before reading- at least thats how i learn?)

my first brew ended up molding :( but okay whatevs try again. I was using a loose cheesecloth which meant I folded it up four times cuz i wanted to keep the flies out, but that didn't allow for airflow. so i bought a tightly woven cheesecloth, folded it twice, and attempted my second brew. and voila! it worked! the first stage is kinda boring, black tea and sugar. but also kinda fun cuz scobys are kinda sPoOkY

its the second stage of fermentation when shit gets weird! for my first batch i did a good ole ginger (next time i'll do ginger, turmeric, & black pepper) and a mint jalapeño 🌶 .

for my upcoming batch i'll be making a shiso juice with purple shiso (its more astringent than the green shiso which means it needs to be broken down, the green shiso 🌿 is delicious for salads- thinking about growing it next yr!) and a passion fruit kombucha!! literally my favorite fruit on this planet 🌏