Determined to consume more gut-healthy fermented drinks in 2023? Fizzy, refreshing kombucha is a great place to start. The combination of sweetened, cooled tea and mature kombucha is super easy to make and far more economical than buying it at the store. And tastier too, say the editors of America’s Test Kitchen, who provide fool-proof recipes for making fermented drinks in the new cookbook, “The Complete Guide to Healthy Drinks” (America’s Test Kitchen; $28).
For this recipe, you will need a one-gallon wide-mouth glass jar and three 16-ounce glass bottles with caps. You can purchase a kombucha starter, which contains the mature kombucha and the kombucha pellicle, the jelly-like culture of bacteria and yeasts that acts as a starter, at specialty retailers like Preserved Goods in Oakland or your favorite online retailer.
Kombucha
Serves 4 to 6 (makes 1 1/2 quarts)
INGREDIENTS
8 cups spring or filtered tap water, room temperature, divided
2 tablespoons loose-leaf black or green tea
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
3/4 cup mature kombucha plus 1 ounce kombucha pellicle
3 tablespoons simple syrup (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Bring 2 cups water to a boil in small saucepan over high heat, remove from heat. (If steeping green tea, allow boiled water to cool to 175 degrees.) Using reusable tea infuser or disposable tea bag, steep in water for 5 minutes for black tea or 3 minutes if using green tea. Discard tea. Whisk in sugar until dissolved.
Add sweetened tea and remaining 6 cups water to 1-gallon wide-mouth jar and stir to combine (mixture should be less than 100 degrees; let cool if necessary before proceeding). Stir in mature kombucha and pellicle. Cover jar with large coffee filter and secure with rubber band. Place jar in 73- to 83-degree location away from direct sunlight and let ferment for 6 days. After 6 days, taste kombucha daily until it has reached desired flavor; this may take up to 8 days longer.
When kombucha has reached desired flavor, transfer pellicle to bowl, using tongs or slotted spoon, along with 3/4 cup mature kombucha; set aside. Stir remaining kombucha to recombine.
— From America’s Test Kitchen’s “The Complete Guide to Healthy Drinks” (America’s Test Kitchen, $28)
