Kombucha is a fermented and fizzy drink known for its probiotic benefits. Making your own kombucha allows you to customize the flavor of your brew with different fruits, juices, or spices. Plus, knowing how to make kombucha at home can save you money on your weekly grocery trip.

Our guide includes step-by-step instructions on how to make kombucha at home. Keep reading below to find tips on brewing your own kombucha.

What Is Kombucha?
Before You Begin
How to Make Kombucha at Home
How to Grow the SCOBY
The First Fermentation
The Second Fermentation

What Is Kombucha?

Kombucha is a type of effervescent beverage made from fermented tea and sweetened with sugar or fruit juices. The fermentation process gives kombucha its tart and tangy taste and its slightly fizzy quality.

The fermentation process uses a SCOBY to turn sweetened black tea into kombucha. The SCOBY (or "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast") is a flat, pancake-shaped disc that holds all of the yeast and bacteria needed to make kombucha.

Like other fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, or kimchi, the probiotic quality of kombucha has been associated with improved gut health. Additionally, the antioxidants in kombucha can help you reduce inflammation, protect your cells from damage, and boost your immune system.

Before You Begin

Before you start making your own kombucha, you'll need to gather all of the ingredients and equipment.

Key Ingredients

Making kombucha only requires a few essential ingredients.

Water: While filtered or distilled water works well for brewing your own kombucha, you can also use tap water.

Sugar: You can use any type of cane or beet sugars to make kombucha. Don't use artificial sweeteners; these won't provide the sugars that the bacteria in the yeast need to consume during the fermentation process. We recommend not using honey for the first fermentation because the bacteria associated with botulism can grow quickly.

Caffeinated Tea: Caffeinated teas like green tea, black tea, white tea, or oolong tea can be used to make kombucha. It's important to choose a caffeinated tea because the caffeine provides enough nitrogen for the fermentation process.

Kombucha: To create your own kombucha, you'll need a little bit of prepared kombucha to get you started. This could come from a previous batch of home-brewed kombucha or kombucha from the grocery store. It's best for this starter kombucha to be unflavored because flavored kombucha can often cause mold growth on the SCOBY.

SCOBY: Like we mentioned previously, the SCOBY stands for the "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast" and is a key ingredient in brewing your own kombucha. You can grow your own SCOBY, get one from a friend (much like a sourdough starter), or purchase one online.

Tip!

You can also flavor your kombucha with fruit juice, whole fruits, or spices during the second fermentation. Because the yeast will eat the extra sugars in the fruit or juice and make your kombucha carbonate faster, it's important to check your bottles more frequently (about each day or so).

Equipment You'll Need

After you've taken stock of the ingredients you'll need, it's time to prep all of your equipment. Like with any home brewing, it's crucial that you clean your equipment thoroughly – stray bacteria could interfere with your brew or lead to bad bacteria growth.

Stock Pot: You'll need a stock pot that is at least 8 quarts or larger so that you can boil the water to steep the tea.

1-Gallon Glass Jar: This gallon-size glass jar is where you'll be fermenting the kombucha. It's important to not use a metal or plastic container because these materials could interfere with your brew and harm the SCOBY.

Tea Towels: The two tightly knit tea towels will cover the jar. This allows air to flow in and out of the fermenting vessel while keeping debris out. You can also use coffee filters, cheese cloth, or other tightly woven materials.

Swing-Top Glass Bottles: These bottles will be used for bottling your kombucha. Make sure to choose bottles with a swing-top or another bottle made for holding carbonated beverages.

Small Funnel: This is used to make the bottling process easy.

How to Make Kombucha at Home

The kombucha brewing process is made up of three main parts: making the SCOBY, the first fermentation, and the second fermentation. Follow these steps to learn how to make kombucha at home.

How to Grow the SCOBY

If you haven't received a SCOBY from a friend or purchased one online, you'll need to grow your own. Making one can feel like a science experiment that may or may not turn out, so you'll need to approach the SCOBY-making process with a curious attitude.

If you've already acquired your SCOBY, skip to the next set of instructions.

What You'll Need:

• 7 cups water
• ½ cup white sugar
• 4 bags of black tea
• 1 cup unflavored, unpasteurized kombucha from the store
• 2-quart saucepan
• Long spoon
• 2-quart glass jar
• Tea towel
• Rubber band

Step 1: Prepare the Tea

Bring the water to a boil in the saucepan. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the sugar until it's fully dissolved. Add the tea bags to the mixture and let them steep until the tea has cooled to room temperature, which could take up to two hours.

Step 2: Combine the Tea With the Kombucha

Pour the cooled tea mixture and the store-bought kombucha into the jar. Make sure to include any cloudy bits from the kombucha; this will help the SCOBY form.

Step 3: Cover & Let Sit

Take the tea towel and cover the jar tightly. Secure the tea towel with a rubber band. Place the jar in a dark room with a temperature between 70°F and 75°F and let it sit.

Step 4: Check After One Week

After a few days, you'll start to see bubbles forming at the surface of the mixture. Then after a few more days, a thin, transparent layer will start to form. The layer will continue to thicken and become less transparent until it looks like a beige jelly-like disc. You can start to measure the SCOBY after one week.

Step 5: Measure Your Finished SCOBY

You'll be able to use your SCOBY once it measures ¼" thick. This could take anywhere between one and four weeks for your SCOBY to be fully formed. You can keep your SCOBY in the original tea that you used to make it until you're ready to brew a batch of kombucha, but do not use this tea as the starter for your kombucha brewing.

The First Fermentation

Now that you've got your SCOBY ready, it's time to start making the kombucha – this step is called the first fermentation.

What You'll Need:

• 14 cups water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 8 bags of tea
• 1-gallon glass jar (or 2 half-½-gallon jars)
• 2 cups unflavored kombucha from the store
• 1 SCOBY (or 2 if you're fermenting in 2 smaller jars)
• 2-gallon stock pot
• Tea towels
• Rubber bands

Step 1: Prepare the Tea

Bring water to a boil in a large stock pot. After the water starts boiling, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the sugar until it has dissolved. Add the tea bags and allow them to steep. Let the tea cool to room temperature before moving onto the next step – hot water could harm your SCOBY. This will take

Step 2: Transfer the Tea to the Jar

Fill the glass jar with the cooled tea and add the unflavored kombucha.

Step 3: Add the SCOBY

With extremely clean hands, gently lift the SCOBY from its original jar and place it into the new jar with the tea. The SCOBY usually floats on top of the tea, but could also settle at the bottom of the jar and float toward the top during the fermentation process.

Step 4: Cover the Jar

Place the tea towels on top of the jar and secure them with a rubber band. Place the jar in a cool spot away from direct sunlight where the temperature is between 70°F and 75°F.

Step 5: Let the Kombucha Ferment

Kombucha can take between six and 10 days to ferment. As the yeast and bacteria consume the sugar in the tea, it'll start to develop its tangy taste. After about six days, you can start sampling your kombucha by pouring a small amount into a glass.

Step 6: Prepare for the Next Fermentation

Once you like the sweetness of the kombucha, you can get ready for the next step of the fermentation process. Before you start the second fermentation, make sure to save 2 cups or so to use as a starter for future batches of kombucha.

The Second Fermentation

As the final step of your kombucha-brewing process, the second fermentation is where you can experiment with different flavors and really lock in that fizzy carbonation.

What You'll Need:

• Kombucha from the previous step
• Sweeteners (like fruit, fruit juice, or honey)
• Swing-top glass bottles (or other glass bottles that can hold carbonated beverages)
• Small funnel

Step 1: Pour the Kombucha Into Bottles

Using a small funnel, pour the kombucha into individual bottles. Make sure to leave about 1½" of space at the top of the bottle.

Step 2: Add Your Sweeteners

As an optional step, you can add small pieces of fruit, 1 or 2 tbsp of fruit juice, or 1 or 2 tsp of honey to each bottle. Seal the bottles tightly with the lid.

Step 3: Let the Kombucha Ferment

Let the bottles ferment in a dark room for three to 10 days. A higher room temperature will speed up the fermentation process and a lower room temp will slow the process down. You can check to see if the kombucha is ready by opening one of the bottles. If you open the bottle with a slight pop and see the bubbles rise to the surface, your kombucha is ready.

Once fermented, keep all bottles refrigerated and drink within two weeks.

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