By Royal Kombucha
1. Boil Water for 5 minutes Do not over boil. Over boiling reduces the oxygen and carbon dioxide needed for fermenting . The purpose is to heat the water sufficiently to extract the tea and dissolve the sugar.
2. Add Tea . Green, Black or White Tea. ( 3 -4 bags per gallon )
The organic teas are more likely to mold . If you want to be safe and save money, use NON-organic teas and you will almost certainly not experience any mold problems if you follow directions. Later, when you have plenty of cultures to experiment, you can do some organic teas and see how it goes.
3. Add Sugar. . ( 1 cup per gallon ) dont worry the culture will consume most if not all the sugar in a week or 2.
4 . Cool to room temperature and place into Glass jar . Make sure that the tea is NOT hot before proceeding to step 5 !!!!!!!
5. Add some "Starter Tea" (included in our kit). You don't need much, maybe half a cup or less is fine. ( the liquid the culture came in ) Use the liquid from your previous kombucha brew for next round , this is added to kick start the fermentation process and to prevent mold ! So remember, to save some of your first batch as your "starter tea" (ie: don't drink it all)
6. Add the kombucha culture . Place the "mother" kombucha in the tea.
The kombucha will grow to fit any size container. The "mother" may float, sink or go on its side; No Problem.
7. Cover with cloth that is tight knit, coffee paper filters, paper towels are often used depending on the size of the container various covers are options. The purpose is to prevent pathogens and or insects from contaminating the brew.
8. Leave undisturbed for 9 days at 79F (26C) or 14 days at 74F (23.5C). Some prefer their kombucha sweeter with a 6-8 day ferment. Brew to your taste. Kombucha feeds on caffeine and sugar so the longer the brew the stronger it is ,the shorter you brew the sweeter it is.
9. Your tea is ready to drink , you can either enjoy it now or add flavor.Refer to our Bottling and Flavoring Recipes
Note> refrigeration will slow the fermentation process by 90% so when its to your liking, put it in the fridge. 10. Gently separate the new culture (baby) from the mother , now you have 2 mushrooms that can each make a new batch. Don't forget to save some starter tea, you will need it for your next batch .
