#2 Kombucha Tea Review from Whole Foods & Recipe

Marcia Whelan, Marketing & Community Relations Specialist

 

I went on a tour of the Whole Foods store here in Town & Country, MO and while on the tour I was able to try their Organic Raw Kombucha Tea.  If you are familiar with Kombucha -- and if you are one of us -- who brew your own -- then you know the great soda taste that comes from this Probiotic.  I've been making my own Kombucha tea since January, 2013 after attending a class taught by Kim Lebbing.

If you are new to Kombucha -- then you may want to give this a try at Wholefoods.  I found it to be very refreshing and a great alternative if you don't make your own.  In my opinion, I was pleasantly surprised that the Kombucha I make at home was much better then the store brand.  Even though I only tried the Multi-Green flavor at WholeFoods, they did have others.  It runs for $3.99 for a 16 oz. bottle.

Different Flavors

So here's my Scale from 1-5 -- with 1 being Really Great, 2 being Good, 3 being OK, 4 being Not Good, 5 being I wouldn't give it to my dog if I had one.  I would give this Kombucha from Whole Foods a HOT #:

If you would like to try the Kombucha that I make from scratch -- first check out my blog post about it here:  http://yo-yoeatingnomore.blogspot.com/2013/02/31-make-your-own-probiotic-soda-braggs.html.

My simple recipe:

What you need:
1 Scoby starter with 1 cup of it's liquid (you can get this from someone who makes Kombucha regularly or buy on-line)
12 cups Water
4 "ORGANIC" green tea bags (use organic only -- I buy Prince of Peace brand 100 teabags at my local Health Food Store)
1 cup of granulated white sugar
1/2 or 1 cup of any 100% Juice (optional - but I enjoy different flavors -  some even use real fruit)
1 Gallon jar with wide mouth
Kitchen towel
Rubber Band
Spoon for stirring
Glass mason jars or empty jars you have recycled (spaghetti jar etc.)
Funnels for pouring into glass jars


Read Entire Instructions Before Starting

Boil your water in a stock pot.  Turn off water.   Add sugar and stir.   Add your four tea bags to hang on the side of the stock pot.  Let it cool.  Throw away tea bags and pour liquid contents into a large wide-mouthed Gallon jar.  Remove your Scoobie starter from its bag and make sure you open it up.  Sometimes because they have been sitting in a bag it gets wrapped around itself.  Feel free to pull at it but try not to tear it. Just get it open so you can lay it flat inside the jar.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  It will tear some, just throw away the little torn pieces and lay the Scoobie flat.  It will float down or it may sit on top.  Don't forget to add the liquid the Scoobie came with to the jar as well.   Put a towel over the top and secure the towel with a large rubber band.  Put this in a dark place (like a pantry) to ferment for 5-7 days.  If you have a kitchen calendar- put a "K" (for Kombucha) on the date you made your tea.  That way you can keep track of how long it's been fermenting.

After 5-7 Days

Remove the rubber band and towel.  Inside you should have something that looks like a slimy film (don't be alarmed -- it's suppose to look like that).  Sometimes this film will be thick like a pancake or thin like seran wrap.  Don't be a wimp, put your hand in there and feel the Scooby.  You should see two of them -- the one you started with and another one should have formed if you followed these directions correctly.  Sometimes the new Scooby is stuck to the old and you will have to pry it apart -- this is done if you don't open it up flat (as mentioned above) -- otherwise you will see two in there that are not together.  Take them out one by one and put in two separate plastic sandwich bags with 1 cup of the liquid in each.  Seal up and you have two Kombucha Scoobies to use to make more or to give away (you need to keep one bag in order to make more tea).  These do not have to be refrigerated.  They can stay on your kitchen counter forever until you are ready to make more tea.  I've never had a bad Scoobie but I was told if you see black spots or if you open your starter and gnats fly out-- pitch the whole thing.  NOTE:  Make sure to use a cup of the tea to put in your starter bags or you will have mold issues.  If you are looking to buy a scooby, you can Google how to do this or you can check out how I make my own here How I Make My Own Scooby:  I bought my first Scooby for $10 a pop.  So they can be pricey or you might find someone willing to give them away for free.

OK, back to the recipe.  With the remaining liquid -- pour it into a wide bowl and add 1/2 or 1 whole cup of 100% juice of any kind (this is optional, it taste just fine without adding juuce stir this up -- using your funnels, pour your liquid into empty mason jars (only glass jars) or empty glass jars).  Let these sit on the counter for 24 hrs. and then you can put them in the refrigerator.

You can drink this at anytime.  When I'm ready to drink, I put mine in a 16oz bottle and drink it throughout the day.  I try to just drink 16 oz a day so I won't have to make so much so often.  But there are days that I can drink 3-16oz bottles a day -- it's so good to me.  I have not had any problem drinking this with or without a meal -- but I have heard from my brother, that he drank the kind at Whole Foods with a lot of junk food -- like hamburgers and fries -- and he threw it up.  I haven't drank it that way so I can't verify that -- but I have not had any problems drinking it at all.

I hope you enjoyed this review and I hope you give making your own a try.  It's not a long lengthy process like it sounds -- and once you have done it once -- you will see how fast the process goes.  It's definitely worth it.  Please shoot me a comment and tell me how it has changed your life.  Like I said, read my post

http://yo-yoeatingnomore.blogspot.com/2013/02/31-make-your-own-probiotic-soda-braggs.html. and read my results from using this amazing Probiotic. It seems everyone has their own results.  A friend of mine, Carolyn Bess, is now a believer in it as well.  She use to have problems with belching constantly after eating -- after using Kombucha -- it has helped her tummy and relieved her from this annoyance.

BTW -- if you end up with too many Scoobies then you need -- you can put them in your compost pile or just throw them away (if you can't find anyone to give them too). 

Check out my blog post if you have problems with your gut -- constipation:  http://yo-yoeatingnomore.blogspot.com/2013/01/26-are-you-constipated.html

Also if you want to do more research on Kombucha you might want to try this site (All About Kombucha):  http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-kombucha

Until next time...