It's a fermented organic tea. It was brought to us by the Russians, who have been making it for centuries. It contains less alcohol than NyQuil. Since it's naturally fermented, it's ALIIIIIIVE!! with good bacteria (which all of our American intestines could really use...to help with digestion, and such).
Ingredients: white sugar (which changes chemically during the fermentation), organic black tea, Kombucha "mushroom" & 1/2 cup Kombucha tea from a previous batch.
Bring water to a boil on stovetop, stir in sugar and tea. Let it completely cool (approx. 8 hours).
After tea has cooled, pour some reserved, already-made Kombucha tea in the bottom of your fermenting/brewing container.
Pour in your cooled tea. Now place your SCOBY ("mushroom") on top! Gotta love that slimey-ness!
Make a criss-cross with tape on the top of the jar. Place a towel over this tape. I then secure it with a large rubber-band. You want the brew to be able to breath, so mold won't develop. The tape keeps your towel from falling in your brew, and your towel keeps bugs and other contaminents out of your brew.
Place the fermenting/brewing containers in a warm place. I put mine on top of my freezer (same place I rise my bread, too). It stays nice & warm up there, even in a trailer without central heat in winter. In the winter, it takes 7-8 days. In the summer, it takes a whopping 4 days (it gets HOT in the house while we're at work)!!
After the proper time, you're ready to bottle! If you're using the Continuous Brewing Method (which is what I'm using now), you just skim off the top or pour out the spout how much you want to drink and simply pour back that same amount of fresh sweet tea (http://westonaprice.org/food-features/1742-continuous-brewing-kombucha).
Remove the mushroom, reserve 1/4 cup fermented brew for your next batch, stir & pour into clean bottles. It's almost time for buch!
Drink & enjoy!!
