Jos Little Life

I am an oldest child who married an oldest child. So, of course, we were both the first in our family to “officially” become adults. It has been interesting to see how each of our siblings grow and what they do when they move into their own homes. One of our siblings just moved out and is having to buy all of her own groceries for the first time. With this she is realizing how expensive some things are! Specifically some of her supplements. To replace these supplements she has started to drink a glass of kombucha every day, mainly for the probiotic benefits. It has helped her feel so much better! The only problem is, store-bought kombucha is VERY expensive. At the time of writing this, a 16oz bottle of kombucha is anywhere from $3-4 and it often has been sterilized from some of the health benefits so that it keeps for longer without going sour.

I have been making kombucha since I moved out of a college dorm and my mom often made it when I was younger, so I offered to start making her some so that she wouldn’t have to buy it. Of course she said yes! Honestly, this situation has become a total win-win because it has forced me to become more consistent with how often I brew and how much I drink but my sister in law also gets what she needs.

I’m sure you’re thinking that I’m sooo generous because if kombucha is so expensive it must be either time consuming or expensive to make! Well, you would be wrong. All you need to make kombucha is black tea bags, water, sugar, and later on some kind of flavor (along with the SCOBY obviously but you only need to get that once and I make mine at home. Check out my post on that HERE) and all I do to make it is mix it up, let it sit, bottle it, and let it sit some more. Easy peasy!

If you haven’t noticed with all of the flavor ideas (and more to come) on my blog, I LOVE to try new and different flavors. All this extra kombucha I am making has allowed me to really go through all of my ideas quick! At least up until we discovered my sister in law’s favorite flavor. I don’t make much else for her or my husband anymore so I’m back to 1-2 experiment bottles every batch. This o-so-special flavor is pineapple orange. The idea came to me when I was buying frozen orange juice and I accidentally bought the pineapple orange instead of plain. All I did was throw a little bit of the straight concentrate into the bottles with my kombucha for the second ferment and it turned out great! The because it is concentrate instead of juice it has a lot more sugar and flavor packed into a smaller volume so that it carbonates up really quick. if you make this be sure to burp it every once in a while and put it in the fridge as soon as you think its ready! I usually test to see if it is ready by flipping it upside down one or two times starting 2-3 days after I have sealed it to see how many bubbles rise to the top. Hardly any means it needs a few more days, a good layer of fop while unopened means it’s ready, so pop it in the fridge now! And if you see a ton of bubbles you will need to very carefully relieve the pressure over the sink because it went just a little far.

Leave a comment with any questions or thoughts!

For my kombucha I like to use either 8 oz or 16 oz flip top bottles. Here are the amazon links to the ones I use: 8oz bottles and 16oz bottles