Growing a Kombucha Mother Week 1

Well, it certainly is growing. I really just tried it all out as an experiment. But it seems to be working!
As I mentioned in my first post, I had bought the Kombucha originally to try out its affects and benefits for digestive health, which I believe is so important for your overall health. If your body is stuck using all of its energy digesting foods, especially the mis-combined, difficult foods that so many of us eat today then other bodily functions can be weakened or not given the energy that they need to function to their fullest potential. I have been focused on cleansing and supporting my body for a while now and this Kombucha stuck out to me but what I have been learning about it is incredible. It has very powerful detoxifying properties and is a source of vitamins and minerals including B1, B2, B6 and B12, C, amino acids, enzymes and several pro-biotic organic acids.

Here is what it looks like after it has been brewing for 1 week:

You can see how a film has developed on the top. That is your Symbiotic Culture of Yeast and Bacteria or SCOBY, you may see this called a 'Mushroom' in other places but its not a mushroom at all, its Yeast and Bacteria. The yeast here is not conducive to Candida so there is no need to be alarmed, although you may want to be cautious and start slow should you have problems with Candida. Here is what it looks like from the top view:

It looks kind of like brains doesn't it? You can see though how it has formed a pretty thick layer, this is Live Culture lives off of the sugar and caffeine in the tea. I stuck a straw in there to see what it tastes like and it was sweet and tangy like cider. I thought it may be a little too sweet yet, but thought that was a good sign that there is still adequate sugar for this culture to live off of. Check back to see what it looks like a week from now!

Growing a Kombucha Mother

I was recently at the health food store and I was looking at the items that they had in their digestive health section, I was looking for a herbal tea concentrate that I am very familiar and used to purchase, but now I have moved and this local health food store didn't carry it. I found a bottle of Kombucha, and thought I would give it a try. I was actually on my way to work so I tried a little bit of it, and it reminded me a lot of Apple Cider Vinegar, then as I was watching some Health Youtube videos that I subscribe to I saw a video in the related topics on Kombucha and I watched it and then spent far more time than I should have watching videos on how to brew your own Kombucha and how to grow your own mother etc. I watched a whole bunch.. it was like the whole world of Kombucha had suddenly opened up!

I realized that I could grow my own Kombucha mother and brew the tea at home. And as I got so excited about how I could do this I forgot to even read about what it does and what it is good for! Ha! There isn't really a lot of information about it, although the main thing that I was interested in was its affects for your digestive health, it is known to promote healthy flora in the digestive tract but there are so many other benefits which can be explained more thoroughly here.  (Please check it out, it is amazing!)

Nothing scientific, which doesn't really concern me, the best things for you are natural things that usually haven't been tested. So I thought I would start making my own Kombucha which really is fermented tea that is raw and still active. Here is how it started:

You will need a large glass vessel (this jar is perfect, but anything like it will work - must be glass though!), a stainless steel pot (cannot be aluminum), a wooden spoon, 3/4 of a gallon of water, 1 cup of sugar, 5 tea bags (I used 3 black and 2 green), a bottle of Kombucha, a piece of cheesecloth and an elastic.

Put the water into the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat off and stir in 1 cup of sugar, you want to make sure that it all dissolves. The Kombucha lives off of Caffeine and Sugar so you want it all to dissolve.

Then add the tea bags and let it steep for a while. Everywhere I saw said about 5 minutes, but I just left the bags in until the whole mixture had cooled. 

Once it has cooled, remove the tea bags and add to the jar. It was warmer then room temperature when I did this, but I did let it cool for several hours. 

Next add your Kombucha, I purchased this from a health food store, and I used about half of a 16 oz bottle, which I had left sitting out with the lid off on my counter for several days. I did this because I read that a mother will grow right from that, but after a couple of days there were threads of cultures but not a film like I was looking for, and I thought that it probably couldn't really grow without any food so I did all of this. And it is working (after only 2 days there is already a film where my SCOBY is growing)

Then fasten a piece of cheese cloth with a rubber band and put it in a fairly warm place that will get absolutely no direct sunlight. Some people say a dark cupboard, I put it on top of my fridge for the added warmth. It can be exposed to light, just not direct sunlight, no windowsills for the Kombucha!

Then just let it hang out. I will update you on how mine is coming, and also I will document how it benefits my health so please check back to see how it is going!