Well if you are not in Singapore, you will not know that Covid 19 lockdown name for Singapore is called the circuit breaker, they hope to “Break” this circuit by making everyone stay at home.
Since time is on my side, I have decided to try things that I always wanted to do but always reluctant. Cleaning up old stuff, throwing away unwanted things, cooking stuff. Some find the circuit breaker a turn off, but looking it at a different angle, you get to do things that you always wanted to do at home but never got to. To speak the truth, we spend so much money to buy a place to stay but taking the work hours in we already have defaulted 44 hours a week not at home. That is not even calculating in our outing, other activities. Maybe its time to make our money worth just to stay at home!
Komboucha
That aside, let’s get back to Komboucha. Komboucha has been around for centuries, it is merely just fermented tea. But in recent years, health buffs begin to take notice of fermented food and its high probiotics nature, thus drinking Komboucha has became a fad. It is believed that long term drinking of this fermented tea will promote good digesting process and improve health.
How to Make Komboucha
You can make Komboucha from just tea and sugar alone, merely leave some sweet tea covered with cloth in a clean jar and let it stand in a ventilated but away from direct sunlight area. Slowly a layer of scoby will form at the top, this white jelly like looking thing might be mistaken to most as mould. But it is different, a mould clearly has spores and something furry stuff going on around it, but scoby is just smooth like gelatin. The scoby stands for “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast” and only recently, I realise that you can make it in to some healthy food roll by baking them.
A scoby from Carousell
Making komboucha from scratch will take a long time and also the chances of screwing up the brew is very high, most of the time, the sugar proportion and tea type plays an important part. There is really no one text book answer as to why it can go wrong.
Already have a Scoby
Scoby thickening and forming up in 1F.
If you already have a scoby then it is even easier to start or you can even ask around for one. There are many brewers out there who will be willing to share the scoby or sell you one at a nominal one. For me, I got it on Carousell.
I found a Singapore Komboucha Brewers group in Face book too after I did my first brew. The folks there were very friendly and many of they are seasoned brewers who can give you tips and recipes. You can also get a scoby or other stuffs there too.
Pineapple Komboucha 2F.
Those already have a scoby, for the 1st Ferment, you just need a clean jar, clean towel, scoby, sweetened tea( no flavourings at this point just normal black Lipton or green, black tea), one last important ingredient is the starter tea. Basically starter tea is just 2 cups of what you have successfully brewed the last time ( without flavouring). These starters will help to set the PH level right for the good bacteria to act on and develop the komboucha. You will need to leave the brew covered with clean cloth and kept in an airy area without sunlight. Usually first Ferment is about 5 days to a week. This depend on how much you want it to be concentrated.
It can get really fizzy, this is the dragon fruit one!
Youbrew Komboucha Channel
I followed this Youtube Lady , Angelica from YouBrew Komboucha
I find her tutorials really good and if you are a serious brewer , not like me , I always do things in estimation. Then she will give you the exact instructions on how to brew a good komboucha.
2nd Fermentation
The blueberry one which is on the way!
You should know by now that most komboucha has 2 fermentation levels. 1st Fermentation, or usually the brewers call it 1F is just to make the base komboucha, you can actually drink it here if you want to or do not mind that the tea does not have much taste. But most of the brewers will go for 2nd Fermentation or 2F whereby you add in some flavouring , natural fruits, herbs etc. The proportion is usually 1 cup of fruit puree ( mashing up the fruits) into 500ml of komboucha. You will bottle up the brew and keep it for around 3-5 days. This is to allow the bacteria to have enough time to feed on the puree and give the Komboucha the taste.
For me, I feel maybe in Singapore the weather is humid and warm, so the brews is like 1F: 5days 2F :3days and I get something really spritzy and bubbly.
Ending Note
Talk is cheap, so why don’t you try out and see for yourself since it is a relatively easy drink to make. Some people are worried that komboucha can be fattening because you need to make it with sugar. But there is an alternative called the Jun tea, which I have yet to try and it is made from Honey. Some of the flavours I tried were Dragon fruit, Blue berry, Grapefruit and Pineapple. So far most people liked the Dragon fruit and Pineapple. Maybe for the next brew, I will try using some ginger and lemongrass.