How to Make Healthy Kombucha Tea
Kombucha Tea has been around for a very long time, but has gained strong popularity in the United States recently. Kombucha health tea, sometimes referred to as Kombucha mushroom tea, is a folk medicinal remedy that has been used since at least 200 BC in China and continues to grow in popularity. Kombucha green tea is said to have some great potential healing properties, so read on to learn more about Kombucha tea and how to make it using this common Kombucha tea recipe.
Things You'll Need
- Your kombucha tea recipe
- The kombucha "mushroom" culture
- One cup of white sugar
- Five or more tea bags of either green or black tea
- 3 quarts of water
- 3+ quart pot to boil water
- A large enough glass container to hold the mixture (NO METAL!!)
- A clean linen cloth or hankerchief
- One rubber band
- A dark, room temperature place to store it
Instructions
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1
Thoroughly clean all the utensils and equipment that you are going to be using to prepare your kombucha black tea or kombucha green tea. Since you are dealing with a live bacterial culture, you need to make sure that, and nothing else, ends up getting into the kombucha tea mixture.
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Next is to start boiling the three quarts of water. While you can make more or less kombucha tea at one time, this recipe is for three quarts worth, which is a pretty standard size for a batch.
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As the water is boiling, add your tea bags as if you were brewing a pot of regular tea. The most common types to use are either green tea or black tea. For three quarts the standard is 5 tea bags, although if you like your tea stronger, you can add more to bring it to taste.
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4
Once the tea is finished brewing, turn off the heat to stop the boiling. This is the stage where you mix in the cup of sugar. Stir the sugar in, making sure the water doesn't boil because you don't want the sugar to caramelize.
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5
Put a lid on the pot and wait for the kombucha tea to cool down. This is the longest step since it can take quite some time before the tea cools down into the low to mid 70 degree temperature range.
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Take one more time to rinse out the glass jar with very hot water to make sure there's no contamination. Once the tea has cooled down to room temperature, pour it into the glass jar. Very important: never use metal or porcelain containers as they can react with the mixture and add harmful contaminants to the kombucha tea concoction.
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Add the liquid that comes with the kombucha "mushroom," to the tea from the stove. Add in the active kombucha mushroom culture into the jar with the tea mixture after that.
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Place the cloth over the top and secure with a rubber band. Find a darker area out of the light that stays at about room temperature of 70-84 degrees for 7-13 days and it should be all ready to go!
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Once enough time has passed, you have a batch of healthy kombucha tea all set and ready to drink!
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Tips & Warnings
If you're making a batch of kombucha health tea for the first time, it might not be a bad idea to have someone experienced there to help walk you through the first time.
ALWAYS make sure all your utensils are spotless. If not prepared properly, kombucha tea can also have other harmful bacterias grow in the tea.
If you feel funny at all after drinking kombucha tea, stop immediately and if problems persist, get checked out. While there are many people who report the health benefits of kombucha green tea, there have been some negative effects on some people, as well.
Keep the temperature above 68 degrees. If the tea mixture falls below that, it can allow other harmful bacteria into the mix.
