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Lower Sugar Kombucha with Quicker Ferment Time!

Kombucha that uses 25% less sugar that the standard recipe
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 days
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 5 days 4 hours
Servings: 8 8 oz servings
Course: Appetizer, Drinks
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 3 1/2 cups Filtered Water
  • 3/4 cup Organic Granulated Sugar
  • 2 cups Starter Liquid
  • 1 SCOBY
  • 8 Organic Black Tea bags If they have tags, remove them and tie strings together

Equipment

  • 1 Stove top
  • 1 Stainless 6 Quart Saucepan
  • 1 Gallon Jar with lid
  • 1 Piece of closely woven cotton cloth
  • 1 Elastic band
  • 1 or more Glass Bottles with screw on tops Use to store fermented Kombucha in refrigerator
  • 1 Package PH strips (link above) optional
  • 1 Large Pickle Jar, washed, for SCOBY hotel

Method
 

  1. 1. In a clean, 6 quart saucepan, boil 3 1/2 cups filtered water
  2. Have ready 8 tea bags and 3/4 cup organic sugar
  3. When water is boiling, turn off stove
  4. Stir in sugar. Then add 8 tea bags and steep
  5. Let come to room temperature. This will take several hours
  6. When sweet tea has cooled, pour into a gallon jar
  7. Add 2 cups of starter liquid and stir to combine with sweet tea in jar
  8. Add 1 SCOBY
  9. Place cloth to completely cover the top of the jar and secure around the top with elastic band
  10. Let sit in warm place for 5-7 days, or longer, depending upon how tart or sweet you like it
  11. Use PH strips to test if desired
  12. When it is to your liking, remove SCOBY and put in another jar (a large pickle jar works well). If you are not making another batch right away, add 2 cups of the fermented Kombucha to the jar holding the SCOBY. This will be your starter liquid for the next batch when you decide to make it. If you are making another batch right away, instead of putting the 2 cups of Kombucha with your SCOBY, put the 2 cups in the next batch of cooled sweet tea before adding the SCOBY
  13. Pour the fermented Kombucha from the gallon jar using a funnel into storage bottles and refrigerate.

Notes

The time factor is not exact because different people have different tastes regarding sweet/tart. Temperature is also a factor.  We brew ours in our laundry room which stays about 77 degrees in the Summer. We do use the PH strips to test for acidity 
After about 5 days, we find that there is enough carbonation in the first ferment to suit us without moving on to a second fermentation.  This is especially true if the SCOBY has been floating on the top, effectively sealing in the bubbles.
We find that the reduced sugar makes for a lighter, more refreshing, bubbly Kombucha. 
We also enjoy the taste without additional flavorings.  We haven't experimented much with a second fermentation, but if you want to do so, we recommend you find instructions online for this.  To be safe, you will also want to get  recommendations for methods and bottles that deal with the pressure from the additional carbonation.