I had built up such a high standard on kombucha tea! I’d wasted starter culture before because of it. It turns out it’s so simple! When my dear friend Özlem gave me some starter culture and explained how easy it was, I said, “This time I’ll try it,” and I’m glad I did. It really is very simple. I started explaining it on Instagram, but I realized it was getting long, so I moved it here 🙂

First of all, one of the main reasons I avoided kombucha tea was because it contains sugar. I’d eliminated sugar from my life so completely that I couldn’t imagine putting it in anything. After a long search, I was convinced that the sugar simply disappears.

Kombu has many benefits. You can read about them on Google. I’ll explain how to make it here. My dear Özlem gave me my first starter culture and explained it to me very simply. There are many places that sell starter culture online. There’s also a Facebook group called Kombucha Brotherhood where you can get it for free. I checked it out, you can take a look if you want.

When I first started, I was so afraid I’d mess it up. It turns out it’s so easy, I don’t understand why I was so scared all this time 🙂

Here are the steps:

* I rinsed and disinfected a 2.5-liter glass jar with boiling drinking water. Then I poured 2 liters of boiling water into it and hung 5 black tea bags inside the jar. Light black tea would also work, but then we need to strain it. It needs to steep for at least 15 minutes. Then I removed the bags. By the way, it also works with green tea. For my first attempt, I went with the classic recipe.

* The bacteria in the kombucha culture feed on sugar and consume it throughout the fermentation process. First of all, we didn’t have any sugar at home. I bought some sugar and, with my hands trembling, I measured it carefully. They say 150 grams of sugar for 2 liters of tea, but I reduced it to 100 grams. I added 100 grams of sugar to my brewed tea and stirred it with a wooden spoon, dissolving the sugar. Just like with kefir, we don’t use metal spoons here either. EDIT: I later read that we do use metal spoons to dissolve the sugar. I think this is done to prevent bacteria from the wooden spoon from transferring to the water. It makes sense to me. I’ll do it this way next time.

* I put the starter culture that Özlem gave me and the 250 grams of old kombucha tea it was in into a jar. This used to be the difficult part for me. I’d read things like the starter culture shouldn’t curl up, the jar should be the same diameter as the starter culture, etc. Özlem said “don’t worry about that,” and I didn’t. I don’t know if the jar’s diameter is bigger or smaller than the starter culture, honestly. The starter culture did curl up, by the way. I didn’t mind at all. I added the starter culture and 250 ml of the previous batch to my cooled, room-temperature sugary tea. I covered the mouth of the jar with cheesecloth and put it in a closed cupboard.

* Fermentation lasts from day 5 to day 30. In the first few days, the tea is still sweet. I finished fermentation on day 17, yesterday evening. It’s quite a drink that tastes like iced tea. Please don’t give your children those iced teas. Give them this instead; they won’t crave anything else. Plus, they’ll get a lot of beneficial bacteria.

If you let the fermentation go too long, the tea will start to turn into vinegar. Longer fermentation doesn’t necessarily mean more benefits. The ideal fermentation time is between 15-20 days.

Sweetening the tea with fruit, making tea again with the starter culture, and storing it:

* I separated 250 ml from a 2.5-liter jar and put this tea in a glass bowl. This tea will be needed for my next fermentation. I also added the starter cultures to this tea using a wooden spoon. They will wait there until I start fermentation again tomorrow.

The yeast can stay in this tea for 2-3 weeks, but it absolutely shouldn’t be refrigerated. It should stay at room temperature.

If it’s going to stay longer, you can feed the yeast by adding tea and sugar once a week. I think I’ll do it constantly 🙂

* Our tea is ready. It tastes great as it is. I was about to put it in bottles and transfer it to the refrigerator when a friend from Instagram told me that continuing the fermentation with pineapple would be great. We had just come back from a trip, I was so tired, but the pineapple in the fridge came to mind. Come on Sema, I said, don’t miss out on this too 🙂

* I filled half of the bottles with plain tea, and I added sliced ​​pineapples to the other half. You can see them in the large bottle in the background of the picture. Actually, teas that are going to continue fermentation with vegetables are put in smaller bottles and the fruit is added to them. I always saw it like that on the internet, but believe me, I didn’t even have the energy to do that. I put the plain kombucha teas in the refrigerator and put the jar with the pineapple in the dark cupboard.

* During the second fermentation, the bottle remains sealed. The reason for sealing it is to create gas. I hope this drink will be carbonated. It will stay like this for 2 days.

Other uses of kombucha

Besides drinking kombucha tea, it’s also used in the following ways. I’ll try them all and tell you about them 🙂

Diluted with water, it can be used as a facial toner; it’s said to have anti-wrinkle effects.

The mushroom itself can be used as a face mask. You place the mushroom on your face and stay in a lying position for 15 minutes to prevent the yeast from slipping. It’s said to renew skin cells.

You can pour baking soda into the sink and then pour kombucha tea on top…

On an empty stomach…

If you ferment it for 30 days, turn the tea into vinegar, and use it as a final rinse for your hair, it makes your hair very shiny.

Kombucha vinegar, obtained after 30 days of fermentation, can be used wherever vinegar is used at home.

We can wash our greens with this vinegar.

Let the kombucha adventure begin 🙂 Of course, I will share my experiences with you as I go along 🙂

Edit 04/04/2020: After making kombucha 2-3 times, I couldn’t continue. My body just couldn’t accept the sugar added to it. I couldn’t use that much sugar with my own hands 🙂 And it upset my stomach. So I stopped using it.