I didn't even know what this stuff was until the day BD said try it you'll like it. Well I didn't really care for the one she had but I loved the cranberry one and ginger one was pretty good to.

It's a benni for gatherer. over $4.00 a 16oz bottle   Did what every good gatherer would do
Make my own!

First batch bottled. Said wait 4 days. This is day 4. Needs a little more fizz. I'll leave unrefrigerated another day. All but the sample bottle. Oh! it's sooooooo gooooood.

were's mine? were's mine? make any of the mangstean?

You got 2 elderberries, I'll do the mangosteen next time and more of the elderberries. Did mostly cranberry because I had to use the frozen berries up.

You can come get them anytime. Still need to be out to fizz up some.

Oh, batch 2 is already working.

Way to go!!  

I drink it a lot in the summer.. but yeah, at $4 a bottle it's a little crazy!  I really want to start making it.  Anyone have any experience?

You can get what you need for about $30. US. I got the works (this was a crock, tea mix, some plastic bottles and a lot you don't have to have but does make it very easy). You can use a 1gal glass jar and use your own tea.    This is my first batch and I was really surprised with how easy it was. We've had cooler weather so it did take longer to start working.  

http://kombuchatea.wordpress.com/kombucha-recipe.  

go to kombucha tea on youtube for some videos.

thanks!!

I used to really enjoy the ginger kombucha, very refreshing on a hot day!  But, now that I am learning about eating/drinking right for my type, I was disappointed to find kombucha is an avoid for me.

It is an avoid for a hunter friend, I wondered if it was because they make it with black tea. Some of the videos used half black and half green. Of course it could be something in the scoby or maybe because of the Lactic acid it self.  Guess I need to study up on that one.

Gatherers can have it w/ the sugar?

Shelley,
if you made your own in the past, care to share some tips and recipes?

The sugar is "eaten" by the culture. It is really very sour.

Swami rules!  Kombu is a neutral for me.  But if I made it on my own, I figure it would be at least more beneficial.. green tea, agave, etc.  

Very easy to make...I have made it very successfully in the past, but now I am still unsure whether it is a bennie or not for me now.. so my culture is sitting in the fridge..
Now that it is heading into winter here.. it may stay there till the weather warms up..
I struggle to drink anything cold at this time of the year...

I've had a few bottles of this and think I would like to make it myself.

The bottles I've had have had a little glob of stuff in the bottom. I haven't consumed that, I actually strained it out.

Is that the bacterial culture and is it a good idea to consume it or not?
Maybe it's the little kid in me just being a little weirded out.

Eric, take the 7day web class offered by site I gave you. You can't use agave. The culture needs the sugar to eat. Don't worry the sugar is eaten up by the time the process is over.

AkArtlover- The Kombucha is the tea. After it has eaten the sugar, you can (if you want) add your flavors into the bottles not  the container where your scoby is.  What is in your bottle might are the berries, ginger, whatever you flavoring is.

If you don't want the floaters. you can juice whatever fruit or use fruit juice.

I juice my cranberries and then dropped 2-3 dried ones into the bottle. The flavored K-tea (now bottled) sits at room temp.  so that it will build up gas and start to fizz.

That sounds more complicated then it really is.

actully i think it may be a new scoby forming around the fruit partacles but the mango one we bought was pulped. i suck the sucker down, it makes the kumacha anyway and is a waist other wise, besides, i figure i am getting an extra bit of cleaning out of that concentrated glob of microbes. the bottles say their are one billion micoorganisims in there....gusse i am a serial killer in mass.

deblynn, with the SWAMI diet i cannot have kumbucha  .  You must be doing the GTD?

Quoted from tnahowru

deblynn, with the SWAMI diet i cannot have kumbucha  .  You must be doing the GTD?

I'm sorry, can you have ginger beer? The recipe was given on the "beer, beer, beer, for gulfers" Thread or something like that.  I think I'll see about making that for my hunter friend.

Help me out here! I always assumed kombucha would be bad for me because it is fermented. But it seems like from this thread that there are plenty of O's and an O Nonie (like me) that drink it! For me vinegar and beer and black tea and sugar are not on my BTD... but if the sugar is consumed by the culture; how do the rest of the ingredients work out so well for other O's.

Good question - I'd be interested in the answer too...

the suger is eaten, gone , no more, when the kumbachs is done.
the fermentation is not a prob as wine is ok (at lest on some o diets)
beer is an avoid mostly i think becuse of what it is made of usuly (i.e. wheat or barely)
what you get may smell a bit like vinigar but it is not, it may taste a bit like sour wine but again it is not. it is about as differnt from what you are used to as fish from frog.

Lola, I didn't make the ginger kombucha, the local health food store sells it.  I didn't know it could be homemade until I read the posts on this thread.  It was very good though with the ginger.  It reminded me of ginger soda except with more ginger taste and more fizz  .  The first time I tried kombucha was the original flavored one, and I really didn't like it, I thought it tasted like pickle juice!  

In the Geno diet it is an avoid for hunter, benni for gatherer. Not sure why,

one 16oz. bottle (store bought) Has 30 cal. / 0 fat/0 cholesterol/2g sugars/0 protein/ 20-25% of 6 vit. Bs/ Lactobicillus bacterium 1 billion/S. Boulardii:1billion organisms.

It's the little critters that we want.