How to Add Juice to Kombucha

Adding water or flavoring to your kombucha tea can help its dilute strong flavor.

Kombucha is a tea made from kombucha starter culture (i.e. mushroom, mother, scoby) that is left to ferment for five to 30 days at room temperature, which varies the taste from sweet to acidic. While some people drink kombucha plain, many prefer to sweeten the tea with fruit or juice. Buy a bottle of kombucha from your local health food store or co-op and try it to see if you prefer the sweetened or unsweetened tea. But brewing kombucha at home allows you to experiment with different flavors.

Instructions

1. Make a batch of kombucha by preparing the tea leaves and letting them cool at room temperature. Then add the starter tea, which is what was left over from your previous batch of tea, and kombucha culture. Cover the pot with a breathable cloth (it's best to secure it with a rubber band) and let it ferment for the desired period of time--Culturesorhealth.com says this can be from five to 30 days.. Remove the culture after the fermentation period has elapsed.

2. Add any juice to sweeten the tea after the fermentation process is complete. Some popular choices are cherry, pear, grape or pineapple juice. The kombucha-to-juice ratio should about 4-to-1.

3. Consider adding other flavors like various fruits or ginger. Bottling the kombucha and juice mixture and letting it sit for several days can produce carbonation while also adding more flavor.

References

• Cultures For Health: Kombucha FAQ
• Sulis Health: "Kombucha Tea for your Health and Healing"
• Food Renegade: How to Brew Kombucha --- Double Fermentation Method