Kombuchoid Encounters

[errantember]

I've been brewing kombucha for probably about four months now. I had one really good recipe that produced happy results most of the time, but recently we've had some problems. I think they were mainly caused by my decision to try using jasmine green tea, instead of normal green tea. wordmegan was victimized by this when she generously babysat my SCOBY when I was gone to Oregon, with the result being distinctly pickle flavored kombucha.

Poor worldmegan!

It's hard to imagine that vinegar+jasmine=pickle, but I think that's what happened. I just ditched a massive portion of the SCOBY to remove as much residual jasmine flavor as I could, and went back to using normal green tea. I also found the original Central Market Organics Cranberry Blend that worked well in the past.

The last cranberry juice I tried was 100% unsweetened, unadulterated cranberry!

Great for bladder infections, but not much else. It actually made the kombucha *more* tart and *less* sweet, which was not The Goal.

So we're back on track with a newish SCOBY, pure green tea, and the extra apple and grape juice mixed in with the cranberry blend. In four or five days, we'll see how the correct cranberry blend works, and then five days later, we'll get our first draw of non-jasmine kombucha.

Once I've verified this recipe works well again, I'll post it.

Comments

[worldmegan.livejournal.com]

No way -- I think it was the mint green tea I used for the second batch, because there was no pickling going on in the first batch I babysat for you, and it used regular green tea (not mint). I claim the pickle blame! ^_^

[errantember.livejournal.com]

It might have been the mint, too. I removed most of the SCOBY and most of the old liquid, so we should be good for future batches.

And we learned that mint is not the thing to use, unless you're making pickle juice.

We need to grow some cucumbers!

[lorelein.livejournal.com]

Speaking of kombucha (http://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_lee_grow_your_own_clothes.html) ...