Kombucha

My absolute favorite part of doing the Trim Healthy plan is the all day sippers! I call myself the "sipper queen" because I love my drinks so much! There are so many sippers to enjoy, but I also like specialty drinks like Kombucha because of the benefits.

Kombucha is not a sipper, but it's a drink that is a Fuel Pull or S friendly up to a half cup due to the carbs in it.

My family enjoys it as an E drink in the evenings because we often drink more than a half cup of it.

What is Kombucha?

Kombucha is a fermented, lightly effervescent, sweetened black tea drink commonly consumed for its purported health benefits like your gut health. Fruit, herbs or other flavorings are often added in the second ferment. I like to think of kombucha as an all-natural probiotic that will cleanse and heal your gut!

Here is a store-bought Kombucha we had while on vacation and enjoyed in wine glasses.

When buying it from the store, look for 2 grams or less of added sugar.

What do you need to make Kombucha?

A scoby

(Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria & Yeast)

Kombucha starter

(This will have a kombucha scoby and 1 cup of already made kombucha tea)

Black Tea or Green Tea

Sugar

(this gets eaten up in ferment process)

Water

Glass Jars

A cheesecloth or linen with a rubber band to hold cloth on.

From left to right:

Two black tea bags in boiling water, my scoby hotel and the tea choices I have to make the tea.

I'm adding one cup of cane juice crystals to the gallon jar of black tea and I left room at the top to add the scoby and Kombucha starter from the last batch I made.

Where do you get your scoby from?

I got mine from a friend to save money, but Cultured Food Life is my go-to for fermented foods.

I just added pure water to the gallon jar after steeping the tea and letting it cool, so it doesn't hurt the scoby. Then I placed the scoby and a cup of kombucha from the last batch in the gallon jar. The scoby is floating in there and will work it's way to the top. I placed cheesecloth over the top.

How do you make Kombucha?

Boil a cup of water and add two black tea bags.

Let cool.

Put the cooled tea in a gallon glass jar or crock

Add one cup of Cane Sugar

Add the scoby and Kombucha starter

Fill to the top with pure water.

Place a cloth over the opening of the jar and secure with a rubber band.

(This keeps dust, mold spores, and vinegar flies out of the fermenting tea.)

Let it sit for 10-14 days.

After sitting in an undisturbed and a well-ventilated place away from direct sunlight 10-14 days, I prepared a second ferment.

This is my lemon-ginger double fermented Kombucha.

For this batch, I placed a whole peeled lemon and around three to six inches of peeled fresh ginger in my vitamixer with a little bit of the Kombucha, then used a funnel and distributed it equally among the jars and added in the Kombucha, leaving out the scoby and a cup of the Kombucha starter.

I leave the second ferment on the counter for three more days and then place in the refrigerator.

I often make drinks in batches for the week!

From left to right:

First ferment Kombucha, kefir, Parrot Punch from Trim Healthy Future, Spuice from the Trim Healthy Membership, Lemon/Ginger Kombucha and Hydrated Hummingbird from Trim Health Future.