Batch 6 7-23-09

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Gallons well water

6 bags black tea

4 bags green tea

4 bags Oolong tea

4 cups sugar

I grew this SCOBY from a bottle of plain raw Kombucha.(not GT's). We did not like the flavor of the end product so I cleaned the vat rinsed theSCOBY with well water assembled the ingredients and added 1 1/2 pints of our other K-tea made with Laura's SCOBY.

Batch 5 07-21-09

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Gallons spring water

2 bags black tea

6 bags green tea

6 bags Oolong tea

4 cups sugar

1 pint left over from last batch

Comments

bottled with fresh raspberry juice

fresh ground ginger

fresh Mango puree.

All were delicious and way to effervescent.

Batch nine will have half the green tea see if we can keep thebottles from exploding!

Batch 4

Ingredients:

2 Gallons spring water

8 bags black tea

4 bags lemon ginger tea

3 cups sugar

1 bottle GT's original K-tea

batch 3 06-13-2009

Equipment:

One 3 Gallon Acrylic container

2.5 Gallon Stainless steel pot

16 recycled GT's bottles

4 small Perrier Bottles

Ingredients:

21/2 Gallons well water

6 bags black tea

6 bags Pu-er tea

2 cups white sugar

2 cups brown sugar

left 16 ounces+ in container

Method:

Boiled 2 quarts water, removed from heat, put in teabags, steeped 10 minutes, added sugar, accelerated cooling with frozen water bottles, when cooled to tepid put in brewing vessel while pulling S.C.O.B.Y aside , add 2 gallons of well water, the S.C.O.B.Y.. I tested the brew daily after the 5 th day. After 7 days I decided it was time to bottle.

I cleaned, rinsed and sterilized the bottles in a pressure cooker and we bottled 20 bottles. 2 plain, 8 with 1fl.os. of Bom Dia (Acai berry/blue berry juice), and 8with raspberry puree.

Put the bottles in the dark for 7 days then started to put them in the refrigerator 3 at a time for daily consumption.

Note: C. likes Acai berry best I prefer plain or Raspberry

Batch 2 06-06-2009

Equipment:

One 3 Gallon Acrylic container

2.5 Gallon Stainless steel pot

12 recycled GT's bottles

Ingredients:

2 Gallons spring water

8 bags black tea

4 bags lemon ginger tea

3 cups sugar

left about 20 ounces in container

Method:

Boiled one gallon water, removed from heat, put in teabags, steeped 10 minutes, added sugar, let cool, when cooled to tepid put in brewing vessel, add other gallon of spring water, the S.C.O.B.Y, and 16fl.ozs. of GT's Original. Did the litmus test thing to make sure we were going acid. Found out my taste buds did the same and they let me know about the sweetness of the brew. I wanted to leave a little sweetness in to allow for fizz production. After 7 days I guessed it was time to bottle.

I cleaned, rinsed and sterilized the bottles in a pressure cooker and we bottled 16 botlles. 8 plain and 8 with 1fl.ozs of Bom Dia (Acai berry/blue berry juice).

Put the bottles in the dark for 7 days then started to put them in the refrigerator 3 at a time for daily consumption.

Note: By now C. and I are drinking about a pint a day. We started slowly as recommended by peple more experienced.

How it started

C. and I were shopping at Whole foods and saw a display selling bottles with the words "rejuvenate, regenerate, detoxify". We are at a stage in life where these words spark our attention.

The 10% discount really sealed the deal. A friendly attendant explained to us that it was a 2000 Year old Chinese brew.

We tried a bottle and were pleasantly surprised, it had fizz and it was not sweet nor alcoholic.

We bought our first case.

Once home I Googled Kombucha and was overwhelmed by the information available.

I decided to make my own K- Tea at as little cost as possible.

So here is the first batch

Ingredients:

2 Gallons spring water

4 bags black tea

6 bags green tea with ginger

3 cups sugar

1 bottle GT's original K-tea