What you will need:

• 4 cups spring water + 4 liters cold spring water
• 2 cups organic granulated sugar
• 18 organic black tea bags (I use Newman’s Own Second Generation)
• Large stainless steel pot
• Kombucha Vessel (getkombucha.com has vessels for sale.  You can also use a glass vessel with a spigot – like you would use for lemonade at a bbq!)
• Kombucha Mother and starter liquid (getkombucha.com is a good place to get it if you don’t have a friend with some extra “mother” and started liquid for you!

 First, boil 4 cups water in big pot.  Let it boil for about 10 minutes.  Add 2 cups of sugar to the boiling water and stir to dissolve.   Now add the tea bags and turn off the water.  Let the covered pot sit about 10 minutes or so.  Remove the teabags from the water and replace lid.  You can either let the water sit in the pot to cool, or you can add 4 liters of cold spring water to the pot.

Place your kombucha mother and the starter liquid into the empty kombucha vessel, shown above (the mother and liquid should always be at room temperature).  When the pot of water is at room temperature, pour the water into the kombucha vessel with the mother and liquid.  Place a cloth over the kombucha vessel and seal with a rubber band.  This keep the critters out and lets the mother breath and grow.

If this is your first batch of kombucha, it needs to sit for 2 weeks, maybe more, till it has started fermenting.  If the weather is cool it takes longer, if its warm it will be ready faster.  You can taste it and when the taste resembles “vinegar flavored beer’, it’s ready!

Here’s the fun part:  bottling and flavoring your kombucha!  Using the spigot on the kombucha vessel, fill mason jars about 3/4 full.  Use your imagination for the flavor adding juice to the kombucha, just make sure you leave about 1/2 inch of air before the mason jar lid goes on.  Start easy by using organic grape juice, then begin experimenting with different juices and blending flavors.  You can also slice organic ginger root and add to the bottle or just leave it plain!

Me and my husband drink a lot of kombucha, so I have 2 vessels and make a batch about once a week or so.  Each of my vessels will net me about 8 32oz jars of kombucha.