Kombucha: History, Science, Health and Creation + FREE book

Kombucha History

Today we are going to journey through the inner workings of kombucha

That’s right…kombucha, that magic, tannic, sweet elixir of life, that can boost your gut health and bump up your biome!

There is much lore surrounding the invention of kombucha making. Each boocha-tale has been passed down from brewer to brewer over the centuries.

The first description of the brewing process begins in Asia.

Let’s go back to China, 221 BC. It was then, that Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China described drinking lingzhi or the “elixir of life.” During this time, there is much description of the fermentation process, thus alluding to the origins of kombucha during this time. However, tea was not commonly consumed until the Tang dynasty in 618-907 AD. Furthermore linghzi actually refers to mushroom tea NOT kombucha, though arguably the SCOBY does look like a mushroom.

In fact, the Chinese name for kombucha is haibo, which translates to “sea treasure.”

Another common lore is that of Dr. Kombu from Korea. Dr. Kombu lived across the East China Sea in South Korea around this time and brought a “special remedy” to heal the ailing Japanese Emperor In-giyo.

What about Japan as the place of origin? Well kombu means “seaweed” and cha = tea in “Japanese.” So was this the booch’s birth place? Perhaps?

If you look at the origins of kombucha in Russian literature, Japan is the place to be! Yet, Buddhist texts from 400 AD are the first mentions of tea drinking as a part of Japanese life, bringing Japan into question as kombucha’s originator.

Why the tie between Russia and Japan? Well, Russian stories of kombucha likely began after the Russian-Japanese war from 1904-1905. What is the link between all of these stories?

Why geography of course. All of these origin stories are centered around the Liaodong Peninsula, raising the possibility for all of these stories to have happened around the same time? Thus, it is quite possible that each story happened at the same time. After all there are no original ideas, right?

Modern Kombucha History

From this point, we flash forward to the early 1900’s. In Russia, Dr. Bachinskaya, a biologist discovers Bacteria xylinum, the stuff in kombucha that makes acetic acid, giving it a vinegar taste. He publishes several works outlining the composition of the SCOBY.

Around the same time, German mycologist Dr. Gustav Lindau publishes valid works on the kombucha culture and confirms Dr. Backinskaya’s work describing both bacteria and yeast present in the fermentation process. The Russian and German culture alike, publish countless papers from 1926-1935 using kombucha for ailment such as anxiety, high blood pressure, stomatitis and even aging.

Over the next century kombucha benefit is touted and wiggles its way into hippie counter-culture in the 1960’s. In the 1970’s the cellulose structure is defined in China. The 1980’s Regan allegedly attempts to drink kombucha when he developed cancer. The late 1990s were met with triumph, when Len Porzio names the SCOBY, but scandal erupts in the kombucha world when two prevalent brewers fall ill and one passes away due to unknown causes..dun dun dun!

Do not fret fellow kombcha consumer, the 2000s was the rebirth of the booch. Sandor Katz in his 2003 work Wild Fermentation brought the booch back from the grave. Since, the 200s, the world has been gaga over this elixir of life with sale marching into the 600 millions. Even docs like me, now taught its value.

Making Kombucha

The first steps in any kombucha making process is to birth your own mama SCOBY.

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT BUY a SCOBY online, frozen, dried, etc. THESE WILL ALL mold and WILL NOT WORK, TRUST ME

Instead, get one from a friend or Go to the Store and buy 1 bottle of UN-Pasteurized and Unflavored booch. The more particulates, the better. This will serve as your starter tea.

You will also need

1 half gallon mason jar

2 rubber bands and a triple layer of cheese cloth cut into 1 ft x 1 ft squares

Next, you will require 4 Bags of Black, Green, Oolong or White tea

Do not use flavored teas fancy teas, as the oils will kill your SCOBY. Green and Black tea area best with black tea having a slightly more bitter tasted and green tea tannic, but lighter in flavor. Black tea is fully oxidized, while green tea only slightly. Oolong, interestingly is somewhere between. Oh, yeah and white tea is a younger form of all the above.

You also need water, about 7 cups will do. It is important to know where your water comes from as minerals and things like trace metals may inhibit your mam SCOBY’s potential and make the kombucha taste metallic or funny. If you live in a city, your tap water is likely filtered and you should be FINE.

Next, ½ cup of CANE sugar. That’s right, good old-fashioned sugar. Why not honey or agave? Impurities in agave will blunt the booch and honey, especially raw honey not only has a tough structure for the bacteria to get through, but when left to its’ own devices can leave behind Clostridium botulinum, which causes Botolism. YOU DO NOT WANT THAT.

You may also wonder, why a Doctor is recommending I make something with sugar? Actually, most of the sugar in kombucha from home is consumed by the bacteria and yeast to make, acid, alcohol and carbonation. The sugar content is LOW. Booch on!

The next step involves brewing a sweet tea and TIME! To do this, take 4 cups of your water and boil it to the appropriate temperature. In my opinion an instant tea pot works best for time. The temp and duration of the tea brewing process.

Black teas 195-200 F for 3-5 minutes (5)

Green Tea 170-180 F for 3-4 min (4)

White Tea 180 F for 3-6 min (5)

Oolong Tea 190F 5-8 min

Once the water is ready, place your 4 desired tea bags in the tea and allow to steep for the aforementioned time period, set a timer to remind yourself. While this occurs, measure ½ cup of cane sugar

After the tea is done brewing, wash your hands and gently remove the bags, disposing of them. You shall then pour the sugar into the brew in increments, taking care to stir with a NON-metal device (metal will leave metal behind which will interfere with the SCOBY). Repeat this process until the sugar is all gone and dissolved in the tea. NOW WE WAIT and this is VITAL.

You cannot rush the cooling process, why because this is a living thing. Temperatures higher than 85F will kill your bacteria. Lower than 50F and the same thing. A wide range I know, but the closer you get to the ideal temp of 78-80F the better. You can use an instant read thermometer to be safe.

Once your tea is almost done cooling, measure out 1 cup of starter tea (feel free to drink the rest after you are done). When the tea is ready pour the starter tea, your sweet tea and 3 additional cups of water into your mason jar. Place the cheese cloth over the jar and cover with the rubber bands to seal. Place your jar in a relatively warm (ideally 78-80F, but can be 65-77F) place without sun exposure and wait 4 weeks!

First Fermentation

By now your SCOBY has grown to a mama! For this next step we will be moving our mama to her new home and getting on with the brew. Make sure you retain 1 cup of the starter liquid for the next steps, the rest can be discarded.

For the first fermentation, we are taking our SCOBY and allowing it to form the acids vital to the core flavor. This will impact the tartness and sweetness imparted to your final product.

To do this, you are near replicating a double0sode of the SCOBY formula.

You will need one gallon glass jar, preferable with a spigot. Again, glass is key, so as not to emit byproducts from the metal device. Again 3 ply-cheese cloth and 2 rubber bands. You shall need about 14 cups of water (roughly 1 gallon) 6-8 tea bags, 1 cup of sugar.

As in our steps above to birth the SCOBY, we will be making a sweet tea. To do this start early, to allow your tea to cool to the appropriate temp. Take 4 cups of water, bring to the temp previously listed for each tea. Once the temp has been met, add you tea bags and steep for 3-5 minute pending the tea. Meanwhile measure your sugar. Once the tea is done steeping, remove the teabags and dispose of them thusly. Add the sugar in small increments allowing the solution to dissolve. Once complete you wait until the tea is room temperature.

Now the next step, it is VITAL to use surgical level sterility. WASH YOUR hands. In order to properly wash your hands, sing row-row your boat 3 times or count to 20.

You then will get your SCOBY out of your jar with clean hands or gloves. Place is gently in your new vessel. Remove 1 cup of starter tea and add this to the vessel. Next, pour in your ROOM temp sweet tea and add roughly 10 more cups of water or until the new vessel is full to the top. Now don’t fill this up all the way, leave some space for your SCOBY to grow. It needs oxygen after all to make the good stuff.

Cover your first ferment with the triple ply cheese cloth, place the rubber bands to seal and place in a room temp place out of the light for 2 weeks

Second Fermentation

Whew! It’s been a while…what’s new? Now comes the fun part, adding flavor, bubbles and you are so close to actual getting to try your BREW.

Keep your flavors simple and you will have success.

For this next part you will need 6 bottles. I prefer these flip top bottles with a rubber stopper, but you can reuse old booch bottles, wine bottle is you would like. Also, you shall need a funnel which will help your flavoring get into the bottle and not down the sink. 1 chop stick…yes that’s right. It helps you to push the flavoring into the bottle. After all a flavor is a terrible thing to waste.

You will also need to make a new tea (see above) to replenish and feed your SCOBY, which I have no doubt have boosted in size.

To make you tea, please go back to the first fermentation and repeat these steps. That’s 4, then 10 more cups of water, 1 cup of sugar and 6-8 tea bags. The difference is that you can just leave your SCOBY and 1 cup of starter liquid in the vessel.

Next, thoroughly wash your funnel, chop stick, and bottles, allow them to dry. Measure out 1.5 Tablespoons of sugar. Ponder your flavoring.

In general we recommend not using more than 2 flavors at a time and just start with what tastes good. You will need roughly ½ cup of the flavoring, divided by 6, which equals 2 Tablespoons per bottle. If using liquids like juice, same rules apply.

Place your liquid flavoring in a 1 cup measuring device and fill to the ½ cup mark, mix in the sugar until near dissolved. Have a small measuring device (shot glass), which will portion your 2 Tablespoons per bottle.

If using herbs, measure these out. You need not remove skins but dice small enough such that the solid can fit through the top of your bottle. This makes the process easier and cleaning your bottles as well. Then, add your sugar and mix to combine. Divide into sixths.

Finally, if using berries or fruit, place on a stove on medium-high heat. Add the sugar. Stir gently until the berries have opening up forming a marmalade-like consistency. Portion into sixths.

To bottle, place flip-top 1 in a sink. Move your firstly fermented booch to the edge of the sink. Place the funnel in the bottle and add your flavoring. Mush this or pour this with the chop stick. Then place the spigot of your booch-vessel under the funnel, open the spigot and fill. You want to leave about 1 in of space to allow CO2 to gather. Too much and your drink will be flat, too little and your bottle will explode.

Complete the steps for bottles 2-6. Yes you get roughly a six pack per gallon. Close the lid, give them a turn.

Your bottles should also live in a room temp area without sun. We place ours in the entry closet in an old rum box. I also wrap a trash bag around this box in case I get an explosion, so as not to cause a mess. The carbonation process takes roughly 5-10 days, average 7.

If you wish to check on your bottle, pop the top and if you do get a pop noise, you are ready to roll. Place the bottles in the fridge which will make your booch biome sleepy and stop the carbonation process

Then, fill the vessel back with your room temp sweet tea, add the water and place your next batch in its home for 2 weeks. You can keep repeat this as long as you desire, or double your dose for maximal deliciousness.

To serve your booch, grab a glass, add some rocks and use a fine mesh strainer. This strainer will collect the baby SCOBYs if you don’t want them and the flavoring debris. Sip and enjoy.

Troubleshooting

SCOBY problems

Infection. If you bought a SCOBY that was frozen, dried, etc, YOU WILL GET MOLD. Trust me, my friend that have done this, have gotten MOLD. Grow your own or grab one from a friend.

Being able to notice what is normal and what is mold on your booch is vital. If you ignore it, you can get sick. An infected booch looks like mold on bread and is a whiteish-blue color. What causes this:

1. Unsanitary brewing – wash your hands or wear gloves to avoid this! You should also keep your SCOBY away from cigarettes, plants and consider improving the airflow in your brewing environment.

2. Cold temps – place in a warmer environment or add a warming pad

3. Humidity – again, change the place your booch is living

4. Not enough OR poor quality starter liquid – use 1 cup or up the anty and make sure you use unpasteurized, unflavored

If your SCOBY is NOT growing fast enough it probably means

1. The temp is too low – place in a warmer place

2. You did not keep enough starter tea – reserve more

3. The bacteria is too low or dying OR too much yeast – remove the SCOBY, wash the vessel and place anew.

God forbid if you have vinegar eels (little squirmy white things) you have to START over. Clean everything, especially your spigot with great CARE.

My SCOBY is out of control – just push it down

Issues with Taste

My Booch is too sweet

This usually means one of the following

1. Your brewed for too short of a time, be patient

2. The brewing temp is too low

3. You drained too much liquid from your first batches, leave more

The Brew is too sour

This mean the opposite of the above

1. Your brewing went too long

2. The temp is too high or heated form the bottom

3. Too much yeast or SCOBY – trim the SCOBY (to do this take out the jar, place on a clean surface, use a serrated knife and cut the parts that appears clear (empty apartments in the complex). Discard these and place back in the jar. It is a best practice to do this on occasion.

4. Decrease the sugar fuel

This is a weak brew

1. The SCOBY is tired, start with a new one

2. Temp too low

3. Not enough fuel or sugar – add more

4. Low yeast – reserve the liquid from the bottom for the next round

Protecting against disaster – the SCOBY hotel

To build a SCOBY hotel, take your SCOBY once grown, trim a piece off using clean hands and a clean cutting surface plus serrated knife. You can also peel a layer off of your SCOBY.

Place the SCOBE-baby in a mason jar with 1 CUP of starter liquid. Add a dose of your concentrated tea, cover with 3 ply cheese cloth with rubber bands and place above. This is your bank account, or backup plan should your SCOBY get infected, tired, whatever. Just feed your hotel every 2 weeks to ensure it stays healthy.

Health Benefits

As a physician and wellness care provider I though it necessary to review the medical research on kombucha’s value.

First is weight loss. Though not a direct effect, kombucha may aide in improving cravings and aiding in digestion through remodeling your gut microbiome. Yes, those little buggers in your tummy will switch to bacteria, which send less hunger signals to your brain. Similarly, lactic acid produced by the booch will help with healing muscle damage caused by exercise and glucuronic/hyaluronic acid can help your joints.

Along the same line of metabolic disease kombucha has shown improvements in glucose control and blood cholesterol levels in animal studies. Similar effects have been noticed in people and there is also thought to be a benefit of the cellulose structure can sweep the gut of excess cholesterol and sugar.

For neurologic conditions like multiple sclerosis of MS, kombucha lends high levels of mood boosting and nerve coating B vitamins. This has been shown in the 1980s to perhaps lend some benefit to those with MS.

To help assist your immune system, kombucha produces anti-oxidant effects which can help with fighting cancer and infections. The acidity of the booch also has a direct effect on killing bad bacteria.

There is suggestion in animal studies that kombucha can protect your body from collateral damage produced by radiation. Similar benefit to cancer-preventing polyphenols are linked to green and black teas. Added benefits in immunity and cancer protection include improving chemotherapy-related GI upset.

On the subject of my area of expertise, the gut, kombucha is a valuable probiotic. People suffering from diarrhea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease may all possess out-of-whack gut microbiomes, termed dysbiosis. Kombucha will assist with rebalancing this biome if you add good nutrition and can definitely improve GI distress.

The acidity and anti-oxidant properties also lend a helping hand to those with stomach bacteria called H pylori and ulcers. A study showed kombucha to heal ulcers as effectively as acid blocking medications. Consult your doctor to discuss these benefits further.

Conclusions

Well hopefully in taking this course you have learned about the fascinating magical sea mushrooms journey from Asia to your kitchen.I have no doubt you feel brave enough and patient enough to venture upon this journey that will grant you wellness benefits and save you countless dollars.Until next time Maximal Being’s, this is Doc Mok here guiding you toward Optimizing Your Wellness.