second fermentation kombucha tea

There is a generous amount of information regarding kombucha tea given on the internet. So my intent here is not to give the history or reasons for brewing and drinking kombucha, whether your brew your own at home or purchase it from the grocery store.

Todays strain: the bottle on the left has been strained, the one in the forefront( with ginger) is ready to be strained.

the bottle in the back has fresh raspberries, also needs straining.

I am not a master brewer, but I have "mastered" batches of kombucha that are delicious and refreshing to drink according to my taste buds. I have drunk several varieties of the store bought kind; but personally I like mine so much better. And it is much cheaper to make your own if you are serious about drinking it on a regular basis.

My kombucha  goes through a second fermentation process that last roughly four days, resting in a dark cupboard. I have only once had a bottle to explode due to the natural formation of carbon dioxide during the second fermentation process (that is one too many)!

How I make my Kombucha:
1. Three quarts of purified water (distilled). I use *Primo*; *Le Bleu* is also very good in ph.
    1 cup organic sugar
2. Boil for five minutes.
3. Four organic black tea bags. (I like English Breakfast)
    Two green tea bags.
4. Remove the water from the burner, add teabags and cover. Allow the tea to cool to room            temperature, or almost room temperature.
5. Add your scoby and 2/3 to 1 cup of brewed kombucha tea from your last batch.
6.  Cover with a white cotton cloth secured with a rubber band, a bay leaf set atop the cloth will prohibit little bugs that could prove to be a slight problem.
7. After 7 to 8 days, I bottle my komchucha in flip-lid airtight glass bottles. Organic fruit or fruit juice    is added at this time. Any sort of fruit, fresh or frozen, works; it is fun to experiment. A good rule of thumb for adding fruit juice is 1 part juice to 3 parts kombucha tea. This depends on personal taste of sweetness.
   One of my absolute favorite things to add is two teaspoons of fresh minced ginger to the bottle. My own form of ginger ale.
   Concord Grape Juice is another added favorite of mine. Today I strained a bottle that had been brewed with organic fresh raspberries, so good!
   As a word of precaution, open your bottles that have gone through the second fermentation process    very carefully, I suggest throwing a towel across the lid, sometimes they will pop quite forcefully         as the carbon dioxide is expelled. It varies, you never know how much at any given time.
8. Using cheesecloth, strain the kombucha. There will be a small scoby developing already and you want to eliminate this from what you will be drinking. Straining also removes bits of fruit or ginger.            Personally, I try to get mine as "clean" as possible.
9. Store in the refrigerator. There are at least two good reasons for this, it will continue to ferment if  you do not refrigerate, and it just tastes better when chilled, refreshing and crisp.

Recently, I have discovered that if you lay your bottles down instead of upright, and leave them for about an extra week, they are slightly more fizzy. The carbon dioxide created in kombucha is natural, unlike the carbonation added to soft drinks.

My kombucha tea brew sits  on an oak table beside the piano where I am convinced the lovely music produced by Charlotte on the piano only adds to my kombucha success. You should consider resting your kombucha is a place where it is not disturbed. It is a live culture, after all.