Ferment at home - recipe for your own tea fungus

Grow your own kombucha tea fungus with simple equipment

We will explain to you how, with a little patience and the right ingredients, you can easily grow your own tea mushroom. So that your own symbiosis of yeasts, bacteria and enzymes can develop, you need an unpasteurized "raw" kombucha as the most important ingredient. Because without the many microorganisms that are still alive, it will be difficult to grow your own tea fungus. In addition, your Scoby needs certain requirements. An environment that is not too bright and sunny, and a room temperature between 20 and 30 degrees. Influencing factors such as humidity or air pressure in the room also have an effect on the development of the tea fungus. Under simple conditions at home, we ignore these for the time being. And there you go, make your Scoby come alive!

You need:

• 1 large glass jar with a wide opening – rinse well without washing-up liquid! (Vinegar is a handy cleaner)
• Tea - e.g. green tea, black tea (without flavorings / artificial additives)
• Organic raw cane sugar
• Water – preferably filtered
• unpasteurized kombucha (e.g. Kombucha Original )
• 1 breathable clean drape

• Environment for the Scoby: 1 room with a temperature between 20 and 30 degrees

Ready to Scoby:

1. Boil tea with cane sugar for 8 to 10 minutes (8 g tea per liter / 60 g organic cane sugar per liter).
2. Pour the tea and sugar mixture into the glass jar and let it cool down, preferably overnight.
3. Important: Cover the glass with the air-permeable clean cloth and fasten it with a rubber band or band!
4. The sugar should now be completely dissolved.
5. Now the unpasteurized Kombucha can finally be added in a ratio of 1 to 10.
6. Then reattach the drape securely to the jar and place the jar in a safe place.

Now it's wait, wait, wait!

Depending on the conditions, it can take 7 to 21 days for the kombucha fungus to grow on its own. At first it looks as if small foam bubbles are forming on the surface of the liquid . Over time, these become denser until the Scoby can be seen. In the last few days I've let a Scoby come to life on a small scale myself.

You can admire the entire story on our Instagram profile @kombuchery.de and feel free to tag your own tea mushroom production with #scobybirth . :)