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I love kombucha, that tasty, fizzy, probiotic filled traditional drink which originated in China and later in Russia. My husband and I have been drinking it for over 15 years, and I’ve had few breaks in the brewing cycle in all that time.
Going on vacation? No worries. Just set a fresh batch on just before you leave and even if you’re gone a month, the new batch will be perfect and ready for you when you return! If it’s a little strong, just dilute with a bit of plain seltzer. Or, you can use it to make kombucha salad dressing.
It’s amazing to me that I’m using today the great-great grandbaby culture of the original culture I purchased all those years ago! What a great health investment it was to purchase an excellent quality SCOBY!
I’ve tried making kombucha several different ways over the years including continuous brew and the batch kombucha methods. About 7 years ago, I settled on a routine that works well for me. I make huge batches of 7-8 gallons every 10 days or so split among four 2 1/2 gallon clear glass jars that I purchased at Target for $12.99 each.
Batch Kombucha Method
How I make my large kombucha batches is described in detail in the linked article which contains written recipe plus 2 video demonstrations:
If you are a beginner and wish to make a basic batch of kombucha to start, check out the link with written recipe and 2 detailed videos as well.
Continuous Brew Kombucha vs Batch Method
I’ve been asked several times recently about why I do not use the continuous brew method for kombucha. The process adds fresh sweet tea to the fermenting vessel periodically to mix with tea in various stages of fermentation. You essentially rarely wash the brewing vessel and simply keep topping it up with fresh sweet tea as it gets used up.
While this method is awesome for some folks, I’ve tried it myself and it just didn’t work for me.
My 4 reasons for my sticking with batch kombucha for so many years are outlined below.
Low Mold Risk with Batch Kombucha
Some folks say that the continuous brew method reduces the risk for mold.
Despite living in Florida where it is hot and humid much of the year, I’ve only had mold one time in over 15 years of making kombucha. The reason was simple. I foolishly put the fermenting vessel near the fruit bowl.
In my experience, the risk is very small indeed for getting mold in your brewing kombucha. If you wish to eliminate the risk to virtually nil, simply double the amount of starter you use for each batch.
It’s that simple. Increasing the starter at the beginning increases the acidity of the initial brew and mold just won’t go there.
As a bonus, increasing the amount of starter ensures a faster brewing batch!
Batch Kombucha a Healthier Brew
I am a bit sensitive to caffeine and have never had a problem with batch kombucha causing any stimulant issues for me. This is because caffeine is broken down during the fermentation cycle. The sugar is also fermented away during the brewing cycle.
With continuous brew kombucha, however, sweet unfermented tea is periodically poured into the fermenting vessel which ensures that at least some caffeine and sugar that has not been fermented might end up in your glass.
Since I don’t want to consume any caffeine or white sugar myself and I most certainly don’t want my children to have any on a regular basis, the batch method is the better choice for our family.
Continuous Brew Kombucha Containers of Concern
When I tried making continuous brew kombucha, I used 2 1/2 gallon clear glass jugs. This is because the continuous brew fermenting vessels I examined at that time all had plastic spigots at the bottom. What’s more, they clog up all the time from the bits of kombucha culture that come out when you fill a glass with your brew.
Another problem with the continuous brew kombucha fermentation vessels is that the kombucha really should not be in contact with plastic for any length of time as it will leech chemicals from the plastic into your drink!
The back of the spigot is inside the fermenting vessel and is exposed to brewing kombucha 24/7, so this didn’t make sense to me to choose this type of container given the possible health concerns. It does not matter if the spigots are BPA free or not. Plastic is a petroleum-based product and there are plenty of other chemicals that would be of concern coming in contact with kombucha.
With much of the convenience of continuous brew kombucha lost due to the impracticality and possible health danger of the plastic spigots, I chose to stick with large glass jugs that lend themselves best to the batch approach. Note that since this post was originally written, there are now safe continuous brewing vessels available from Kombucha Kamp. However, most on the market are still not safe enough, in my opinion.
Batch Kombucha More Budget Friendly than Continuous Brew
It’s significantly cheaper to get set up to brew batch kombucha versus continuous brew. Continuous brewing vessels are quite expensive, whereas a gallon Pyrex bowl costs just a few dollars. Hence, for newbies, batch kombucha is definitely the way to go at least until you see if you are going to make this beverage long term.
Even when you make large amounts like I do, it is still a lot cheaper to set up for batch kombucha. I make 7-8 gallons several times per month with little to no mess.
In the final analysis having tried both methods, I find batch kombucha to be an overall easier and healthier choice than continuous brew.
Does Kombucha Prevent Grey Hair?
On a side note, I’d like to take an informal poll of anyone who’s been drinking kombucha for a long time.
If you had no grey hair when you first started to drink it and have been drinking it consistently since, do you have much if any grey hair now?
Kombucha has anecdotally been linked to grey free hair. My husband and I are both 2 decades beyond the age most people see their first grey hairs. We both still have essentially none despite parents and siblings who went grey at much earlier ages. Has anyone else has experienced the same?
Where to Source Strong Kombucha Cultures
Please refer to my Healthy Shopping page for where to source excellent quality kombucha cultures and equipment for very reasonable cost.
More Information
Want to know more about kombucha? Â These articles provide more detail for your research.
Fluoride in Kombucha: Should You Be Concerned?
Can Candida Sufferers Drink Kombucha?
Does Kombucha Prevent Grey Hair?
Jun Tea: Â Kombucha Champagne
Have You Tried Kombucha?
Safe Traveling with Kombucha
Kombucha: Drink It and Wear It?
This is fantastic! I have grays sprouting and have been dabbling in Ana Bret’s Kundalini Yoga since her health archives address that as well and sure enough I found a few grays that went back brown at the root. BUT now I have a new weapon to add to my arsenal lol YOU ROCK!!!
I’ll be 82 in August and have only begun to have any gray hair in the past couple of years but appear dark-haired unless you get up close. My mother began to get gray hair much earlier than this – 50’s maybe – and her two sisters were totally white quite early. I don’t drink kombucha but would love to have time to start making it. However, I suspect the later graying might be more the result of the better diets kombucha-makers are likely to be eating. I have heard that B vitamins can influence this – maybe because pantothenic acid is anti-stress – and we’ve all heard people joke about their kids giving them gray hair. I’ve seen a couple of reports that hairdressers who work with nursing home residents report darkening hair when they’ve been put on vitamins. I also remember a story by Rafael Sabatini – a favorite of my father’s – where one of the characters’ hair turned white overnight from some devastating shock.
Yes, kombucha is loaded with B vitamins. Perhaps this is part of the anti-greying effect. Thank you for chiming in 🙂
I should add that my husband’s mother went grey in a matter of weeks in her early 40’s after surgery. She thought it was the anesthesia (she’s a nurse).
Last year a teen daughter of a friend of mine woke up one morning to to find her beautiful long & naturally curly/kinky hair totally straight. They think it must have been stress related as they were getting ready to make a major family move/life change. Stress can affect our bodies in so many different ways.
still trying to figure out if i can use rooibos tea to make kombucha since i dont drink black/green tea—any thoughts?
According to Sarah’s videos of kombucha for beginners, it’s important to have at least one bag of black tea in the brew because the culture feeds off the tannins (sp?) in the tea. Why is it that you don’t drink green/black tea? The fermentation process might eliminate those factors for you.
I’m LDS, and don’t drink any green or black tea either. According to my friend who is WPF rchapter leader and also LDS, the tea is completely consumed by the scoby, so there are no issues with drinking it once it is fermented.
i’m also LDS and had those same questions. i have since found out that the fermentation process does get rid of the caffeine and tannins. i have also read that roobios (my favorite) is appropriate for kombucha, according to primal fenix/kombucharista.
i have made some with black, green and roobios and the roobios is by far my favorite flavor, but i’m still experimenting with them all.
Mine daughter has had kombucha since she was old enough to drink from a cup. I had mold in my batch last year and had to dump the whole thing and have not restarted making it and started seeing gray hairs after a few months without. Never thought about that being the problem. I will be 50 this year, must get another scoby soon!
Excellent post! Thank you!
Ive been drinking it for probably 4 years now, I really crave it as i was saying last night when i was at my moms house that i wish i had my kombucha when i was eating dinner. Ive gotten a lot grayer since i started drinking kombucha. Im sure its not because of kombucha, but it definately did not help.
I’m 44 and have been brewing Kombucha for 3 years, same offspring of my original SCOBY. No gray hairs!
Wondering what this stuff tastes like?
It tastes like vinegar.
I know it’s very good for you, but I cannot drink it. I have had it flavored 1 time, but really don’t like it. How do the rest of you drink it? I’ve made it and it’s very easy and cheap, and if you have a good TF group, someone ususally has the babies and give them away.
Can you explain more on how you drink it or what I was doing wrong? I do like kimchee and sauerkraut, but this was bad. My kids will drink the coconut kefir, but that can get expensive and I need to make more.
What about water kefir? I have heard about it and that you can flavor it to taste like soda.
I really need to eat more fermented foods.
Thanks
Sorry to say I didnt like it either. Everyone talks about how great it is, I wish I liked the taste.
I was drinking water kefir but I think I was drinking way to much and started getting monster headaches. I had to mix it into a thick juice to drink it. Not an easy taste either…in my opinion.
Maybe I was just doing it all wrong.
You should try making homemade ginger ale and other sodas with ginger bug. Probiotic soda sans the vinegar taste. I made some recently, and am eagerly awaiting the second batch! http://alifeunprocessed.blogspot.com/2012/02/lacto-fermented-ginger-ale.html
It tastes more like iced tea with a fizz and a ‘hint’ of vinegar. It tastes like vinegar when you let it ferment for more then 3 weeks. My normal fermentation time is 2 weeks or more, but I’m in NW, so pretty chilly here. I get my Organic Oolong tea at Amazon and use organic sugar to make my kombucha. It tastes wonderful, my mom is always impressed and she makes hers with just regular black tea and non organic sugar. She says my Scoby grows faster then hers too.
This is how I flavor my Kombucha which I just recently started, otherwise we just drank it plain because it was tasty just the way it was! When the fermentation process is done, I pour them into these glass Voss water bottles that you can find at a WF store, and then add frozen berries into each individual bottle, I tried cherries, raspberries, and strawberries and the strawberry wins in flavor, raspberries being second, my husband marveled how delicious these were! And he’s not easy to please either, so that says something 🙂
I say give Kombucha a try, it really does matter what type of tea and sugar you use. Previously I tried some green tea and it really just wasn’t tasty. So I settled on org. Oolong tea, makes the tastiest Kombucha!
I think it has an apple cider taste, plus vinegar. But then I let mine sit awhile to get rid of all sugar, 3 weeks. Buy the plain GT Daves at the store to get an idea. I thought GT Daves tasted like a hard apple cider. 🙂
I do like it.
We’ve just recently started making our own Kombucha (actually tried it a year ago, but the friend that gave us a SCOBY didn’t give us enough starter to go with it, and it got moldy). In the meantime I’ve been buying it (mostly GT Dave’s) and was really excited to find someone else that had a baby to give us along with enough starter.
This is about how we make ours too, following Sarah’s helpful videos. We have been using 1/2 Organic Black tea and 1/2 Organic Green tea, but I’ve been wanting to get some Organic Oolong tea to use. We also do the 2nd fermentation, so far we’ve used a little bit of muscadine grape juice, and the last few batches was pureed strawberries.
Yum, it’s so delicious!!! We need to start making ours in the huge batches (mega kombucha 😉 ) as 5 out of 6 of my boys like it just as much as I do.
I just turned 51, and only see a grey hair here and there. Nothing really discernible though. I was really excited to see your comments about this, and what an added bonus that would be!!!
Thanks Sarah, for your blog, I’ve learned a lot. 🙂
I think it is so interesting how we all have such different opinions! I personally LOVE using the Uncle Lee’s Green Tea. It isn’t at all vinegary to me. I find the black tea to give a much stronger or rather different flavor altogether. I’ve also read there is no need to use organic sugar as it is all ‘used up’ in the process, but if the scoby’s grow faster, sounds like something to think about. I have a friend who puts chia seeds in her kombucha, (after brewing) but I didn’t care for it.
I have been brewing and drinking kombucha for 5 years. When I started at 47 I’d occasionally find a random grey hair. Now at 52 I still have brown hair, with very few greys.
Does anyone give it to their toddlers? I was concerned about the alcohol content.
Did you see the youtube video of the toddler EATING the scoby? I think people do give this to their kids, but I will be curious what Sarah or others say.
Lots of people do, but in moderation. My understanding is that sometimes there is a SLIGHT amount of alchohol. Even if there wasn’t, it is something to drink in moderation. I know most people who drink it give it to their kids because it is so beneficial.
My toddler LOVES kombucha and has been having sips since he was just under a year. He flips his lid anytime he sees us pour a glass (he’s trying to climb up on my chair to get some as I type this!). He never drinks more than 4 oz in a day. We homebrew and I’m not worried about the alcohol. There’s a tiny bit of alcohol in most (all?) fermented foods and fermented foods are notoriously good for you.
My boys (3&5) are nuts about it. They think it’s some amazing special drink to have. My littlest clamors for “boocha.” They have been drinking for probably a year, year and a half. I let them have about 4 oz at one meal (usu lunch) per day. Sometimes they have more, but not often.
Last winter was the first winter we drank it regularly, and we had no colds except one right at the beginning of the cooler weather. Could this be why??