1st batch!

I think I got it right. to be honest I was taking a shot in the dark with this. I had never even tried kombucha before this and it's quite nice!

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I used a mix of red rose and green tea bags and added a portion of nice organic mango orange juice when bottling.

I can see the allure of this. maybe use a nice English breakfast loose leaf. adding some fresh blueberries, maybe bring in some herb action. the possibilities are limitless. way better alternative to cola.

for best results try to use plain black, green, or oolong teas. I have found orange pekoe, english breakfast tea, and herbal teas to be spotty at best for kombucha.

careful with spice/herbs/aroma... some of the oils that make the aroma are not good for your kombucha

But yours looks really good!

dye4me said:

for best results try to use plain black, green, or oolong teas. I have found orange pekoe, english breakfast tea, and herbal teas to be spotty at best for kombucha.

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Braumeise said:

careful with spice/herbs/aroma... some of the oils that make the aroma are not good for your kombucha

But yours looks really good!

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Good to know! I picked up my tea from the super market and these were the best I could find but i think I'm going to have to source something better if im going to really get into this.

Yup, it's best to add flavorings to your booch after fermentation, at bottling time.

Congration on your first batch.

JawZziff said:

Good to know! I picked up my tea from the super market and these were the best I could find but i think I'm going to have to source something better if im going to really get into this.

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I usually mix green and black tea and I get loose leaves.
Yet I use the supermarket brand tea bags "black tea" and get good results as well.

if you want to make it fancy, add dried fruit after the fermentation.

Good luck with your New Roommate, if you take good care of him/her it will last you forever.

That's going to be my next try! Adding fruit!

How would you go about achieving a dryer taste? I like a touch of sweetness but not too much. A suggestion I found online said to add 25% juice at bottling. So this worked out to about 90ml's of juice and the rest topped up with booch in a 350ml bottle. But it turned out sweeter. Less juice? Or less sugar in the original batch? I use 1 cup sugar to 3.5L water and 8 bags of tea. I haven't even tried bottling booch straight in the bottle with no added juice or fruit. Let the experimentation begin!

I let mine ferment for at least 3-4 weeks often longer before I even bottle. It is very sour then, no sweetness left and I delude it with water.

Try adding less sugar for the fermentation and use very strong tea.
The taste comes out different depending on what sugar you add and how strong you have brewed your tea. Table sugar makes it very sweet, Dextrose gets you a different kind of sweetness... and if I remember right it makes it less sweet, more crisp.

You can add a shot glass liquor before the fermentation, I have made some nice tasting batches by adding Grappa, Himbeergeist and Williamsbirne

Pomegranate is a great addition. I also use left over hops from my beer in a second fermentation and then carbonate.

dye4me said:

for best results try to use plain black, green, or oolong teas. I have found orange pekoe, english breakfast tea, and herbal teas to be spotty at best for kombucha.

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Isn't orange pekoe just a grading for the size of the tea leaves? I fail to see how this would effect the kombucha when you were using orange pekoe grade black tea.

You are correct. And my lack of tea knowledge is glaringly obvious. I tasted my wife's orange pekoe a few years ago, and honestly though it was a flavoured tea so i had put it in the group of flavour and spiced teas that most sources say to avoid.