Homemade Kombucha Recipe

Homemade Kombucha is easier than it looks, and once you start you tend not to stop. I always have a big scoby sitting in my cupboard waiting for the next batch, quietly turning sweet tea into a fizzy, tangy drink.

All it really takes is tea, sugar, a scoby and a bit of patience. From there you can flavour it however you like with fruit or ginger for a second ferment.

I will take you through the whole process, from feeding the scoby to bottling.

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In this kombucha guide, you’ll discover everything you need to know to start your fermentation journey. I’ll show you exactly what tea to use (spoiler alert: black tea varieties like Ceylon are excellent!), how many tea bags per litre of kombucha you’ll need, and what the ideal kombucha sugar ratio per litre is for that perfect, tangy-sweet balance. We’ll get into detailed preparation steps, practical troubleshooting tips, and insightful advice on safely enjoying kombucha. You’ll also find information on the impressive kombucha tea benefits, from supporting digestion to enhancing overall wellbeing.

Before we get started, the first and most important step is obtaining a high-quality kombucha scoby - the heart of your brewing process. A good-quality scoby ensures your kombucha ferments safely and tastes fantastic every single time. For your convenience, you can easily find a trusted scoby source right here.

So, roll up your sleeves, prepare your favourite brewing jar, and let’s get stuck into the vibrant world of kombucha brewing together!

• What is Kombucha?
• Understanding the Kombucha Fermentation Process
• Choosing the Best Tea for Kombucha Brewing
• Kombucha Tea Ratio Table
• Kombucha Second Fermentation: Flavouring Guide
• Kombucha Brewing Equipment
• Printable Recipe Card
• Kombucha Troubleshooting
• Kombucha FAQs

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What is Kombucha?

Kombucha is a delicious, slightly tangy fermented tea drink known for its unique flavour and impressive health benefits. Made by fermenting sweet tea with a culture known as a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast), kombucha has a sparkling, slightly acidic taste and can range from delicately sweet to boldly sour, depending on brewing time and personal preference.

Originating over 2,000 years ago in East Asia - often credited to China - kombucha has traditionally been known as the “elixir of immortality” due to its believed health-promoting properties. It later spread across Asia, Russia, and Eastern Europe, gaining popularity as both a refreshing beverage and a home remedy for various ailments.

Today, kombucha is much-loved globally for its probiotic content, making it beneficial for gut health and digestion. Its growing popularity, especially in the UK, reflects a renewed fascination with traditional fermentation techniques and natural wellness solutions.

This guide brings that ancient tradition into your kitchen, so you can brew kombucha yourself.

Understanding the Kombucha Fermentation Process

Brewing homemade kombucha is a fascinating, two-stage fermentation process that transforms simple ingredients into a deliciously fizzy and probiotic-rich drink. Let’s take a quick look at how this magical process unfolds.

Stage One: Primary Fermentation (Making Your Kombucha Base)

In the primary fermentation, you’ll combine sweetened tea -typically black or green tea - with a live kombucha SCOBY. This culture, a jelly-like disc made up of beneficial bacteria and yeast, feeds on the sugar in the tea, converting it into beneficial probiotics, organic acids, and a small amount of alcohol (usually less than 0.5%).

During this first stage:

• Time: Usually 7 to 14 days (I personally aim for 7 days, longer fermentation makes it more acidic)
• Environment: Kombucha prefers room temperature (around 21°C to 27°C) darkness and minimal disturbance.
• Fermentation Result: At the end of primary fermentation, you’ll have a slightly tangy, still kombucha. This brew serves as the base for the second stage.

Stage Two: Secondary Fermentation (Flavouring and Carbonation)

The second stage is where you add flavours, enhance carbonation, and get the fizz you know and love.

In this stage:

• You transfer your kombucha base into airtight bottles, adding fruits, juices, herbs, or spices to create your personalized flavour combinations.
• Residual sugars from fruits or additional sweeteners fuel further fermentation inside sealed bottles, creating natural carbonation.
• Time: Secondary fermentation typically takes 2 to 7 days at room temperature (I personally for around 3 days)

Once this stage is complete, you refrigerate your kombucha to slow fermentation, maintain carbonation, and achieve a refreshing taste.

Brewing Kombucha Safely

Kombucha is safe to brew at home when the acidity drops quickly, and there are three things that keep it that way. The first is enough starter tea: the starter is the acid that lowers the pH and locks out mould, so use the full 200 ml you set aside from the last batch, not less. More starter is always safer, because the faster the pH falls the less time anything unwanted has to take hold, and you should never substitute plain vinegar for it.

The second is a low starting pH. If you have pH strips, check that the sweet tea and starter together read 4.5 or below before you walk away; if it is higher, stir in more starter tea until it drops. The third is the vessel: brew only in glass or fully-glazed, food-safe ceramic, and never in decorative or lead-glazed pottery, aluminium or copper, which the acid can react with. And when it comes to the fizzy second ferment, glass bottles must be burped daily so they cannot build up enough pressure to shatter.

Quick Tips for Successful Fermentation

• Cleanliness Matters: Always sterilise equipment thoroughly before brewing to avoid contamination (I use boiling water and it does the job)
• Taste Frequently: Start checking taste after day 5 of primary fermentation to find your ideal balance between sweetness and tartness.
• Safe Bottling: Use bottles built for carbonation. I use plastic, which flexes rather than breaks, so it tells you it is over-pressured by going rock hard. Glass gives better fizz and looks far nicer, and glass has to be burped every day without fail.

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Choosing the Best Tea for Kombucha Brewing

Tea is the foundation of delicious kombucha, directly influencing flavour, fermentation speed, and overall brewing success. While kombucha traditionally uses black tea, you can also brew excellent kombucha with green tea for a lighter, fresher profile.

In this guide, I’ll specifically focus on black tea and green tea because these are the teas I regularly use and have had great success with. I haven’t personally experimented with white tea or pure herbal teas, so I’ll leave those for future update!

Here’s a quick breakdown of these two reliable options:

Black Tea - The Traditional Choice

Black tea, especially loose-leaf varieties such as Ceylon, Assam, or English Breakfast, remains the gold standard for brewing kombucha. Its robust flavour, balanced tannins, and caffeine levels provide optimal nutrients for your scoby (the symbiotic culture) to thrive.

• Ideal ratio: Approximately 5 grams of black loose tea per litre of water (around 2 teaspoons per litre).
• Flavour Profile: Rich, robust, classic kombucha taste.

Green Tea - A Lighter Alternative

Green tea kombucha has a lighter, fresher taste compared to the more robust black tea version.

• Ideal Varieties: Sencha, Jasmine, Gunpowder.
• Flavour Profile: Fresh, slightly herbal, mild acidity.

Kombucha Tea Ratio Table (Per 1 Litre Of Water)

Getting the perfect kombucha tea ratio is key to consistently delicious brews. Here’s your easy-to-follow reference table for tea type, amount, brewing temperature, and steeping time per litre of water:

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Tips for Brewing Perfect Tea for Kombucha

• Use fresh, high-quality tea leaves or tea bags for best results.
• Always measure accurately - consistent tea ratios create reliable fermentation results.
• Allow freshly brewed tea to cool completely (21-27°C) before adding your kombucha scoby to protect its beneficial cultures.
• Avoid steeping tea longer than recommended, as it may lead to bitterness or unwanted flavours in your kombucha.

Kombucha Second Fermentation: Flavouring Guide (per 1 litre)

Enhance your kombucha with natural carbonation and delicious flavour combinations. Here’s exactly how much of each ingredient you’ll need per litre of kombucha:

Flavouring Ingredient:	Amount per 1 Litre Kombucha:	Taste Profile:
Fresh Ginger	½ - 1 tbsp sliced thinly or grated	Warm, spicy kick
Fresh Grapes	25-50 grams sliced or halved	Sweet, fruity, higher alcohol content
Fresh Mango, Peach, or Pineapple	25-50 grams diced fruit	Tropical, sweet notes
Fruit Juice	50-100 ml	Sweet, fruity, refreshing
Fresh Mint	½ - 1 tbsp lightly bruised leaves	Refreshing, herbal flavour

My Favourite Kombucha Flavour Combination (So far 🙂

While experimenting with second fermentation, I discovered a lovely combination that quickly became my absolute favourite - green tea with fresh jasmine notes, grapes, and blueberries.

Green tea with grapes brings a perfect balance of mild sweetness, delicate floral aromas, and just the right hint of natural fizz. Grapes add extra sweetness and complexity, initially increasing the alcohol content slightly during the first two days. Interestingly, the alcohol levels naturally diminish by day three, resulting in a drink that’s refreshingly balanced, flavourful, and gently carbonated.

Quick Fermentation Insight: The natural sugars present in grapes initially boost fermentation activity, temporarily raising alcohol content at the start. Don’t worry - after about three days, the alcohol level decreases, leaving you with just an enjoyable tang and fizz.

I highly encourage you to give this combination a try. The layers of sweetness from the grapes paired with the delicate notes of green tea truly make for a rewarding home-brewing experience.

Kombucha Brewing Equipment: What You’ll Need

Equipment	Purpose / Tips
Large Glass Jar (2-4 litres per batch)	Brewing container for primary fermentation. Glass prevents contamination and it is easy to clean.
Glass Bottles (Flip-Top)	Holds kombucha during second fermentation. Must be airtight to create carbonation safely. Plastic bottles work fine for this stage as well.
Kombucha SCOBY	Essential culture for fermentation.
Funnel & Strainer	For transferring kombucha into bottles, filtering fruits or flavourings easily.
Muslin Cloth + Elastic Band	Covering jars during fermentation to protect kombucha while allowing airflow.
Kitchen Scale	Accurate measuring of tea and sugar ensures consistent results.
Thermometer	Optional but beneficial for precise tea brewing temperatures (important, especially for green tea).

How to Make Kombucha, Step by Step

1. Boil the water. Two litres, filtered or spring if you have it. The boil is doing more than heating the water: the disinfectant chlorine compounds in most tap water are largely driven off by boiling, so the thing people buy bottled water to avoid is already handled by the method. If your supply is heavily treated and you would rather not think about it, filtered water takes the doubt away.
2. Brew the tea. Off the heat, add ten black tea bags, or twenty grams of loose leaf, and steep for four to five minutes. That is a short steep for a lot of tea, and it is deliberate. The culture wants the tannin, and plenty of leaf for a short time gives you that without the bitterness a long steep pulls out, which is a fault you cannot take back out later.
3. Stir in the sugar. A hundred and twenty grams, while the tea is still hot so it dissolves completely rather than settling on the bottom. The sugar is not there to sweeten your drink, it is food for the culture, and most of it is eaten during the ferment. That is why a finished kombucha tastes tart rather than sweet, and why cutting the sugar starves the batch rather than making it healthier.
4. Cool it to between 21 and 27C. This is the step people rush and it is the one that kills cultures. Hot tea will finish your SCOBY outright. A thermometer settles it in seconds; without one, the jar should feel no warmer than your own hand. Do not drop ice in to hurry it along, which waters the tea down and brings whatever is in your freezer with it.
5. Pour it into a clean two-litre glass jar. Glass, or fully glazed food-safe ceramic. Never decorative or lead-glazed pottery, and never aluminium or copper, which the acid reacts with. A wide mouth beats a narrow one, because the culture works at the surface and more surface means a faster ferment.
6. Add 200 ml of starter tea. This is the acid that drops the pH and locks out anything unwanted, so it is the one quantity not to skimp on. If you have pH strips, check that the tea and starter together read 4.5 or below before you walk away, and stir in more starter if they do not. Never substitute plain vinegar for it.
7. Slide the SCOBY in. It may float, sink or sit at an angle, and all three are normal. The pellicle is less the culture than the thing the culture builds; most of the work is happening in the liquid around it, which is why a sunken SCOBY is not a failed one.
8. Cover with cloth, not a lid. Muslin, a clean tea towel or a coffee filter, held with an elastic band. The bacteria doing the souring need oxygen and live at the surface of the liquid, where they build the film you can see forming. Seal the jar and you starve them; leave it open and you invite fruit flies, which is what the cloth is there for.
9. Put it somewhere warm and dark for seven to fourteen days. Between 21 and 27C, out of direct sun and away from the hob. Warmth is a safety matter as much as a speed one: a cold corner slows the acid down and leaves a longer window for something unwanted to take hold, while a warm spot gets the pH down quickly and finishes sooner and more sour.
10. Start tasting on day seven. Go by taste rather than by the calendar, because your kitchen sets the pace and a warm week and a cold one are not the same seven days. Draw a little out with a clean spoon or a straw from halfway down rather than off the top, where it is always sweeter, and never put the same spoon back in twice. Still sweet means it needs longer. Sharp and vinegary means you have gone past it, which is not wasted, but it tells you to bottle a day or two earlier next time. What you are after is a shade sweeter than you want to drink it, because the second ferment eats a little more.
11. Decide it is ready. Stop when it tastes lightly tart with a little sweetness still behind it, because the second ferment will take it further again. Bottle a batch that is already sharp and you end up with vinegar with bubbles in it.
12. Get your bottles ready. Swing-top or screw-cap bottles built for carbonation, washed and rinsed properly. This is the one stage that carries real pressure, so ordinary jars, chipped glass and anything decorative are out.
13. Lift the SCOBY out and set your starter aside. Into a clean bowl, with 200 ml of the finished kombucha poured over it. That 200 ml is next week’s starter, and reserving it here is the reason step six has enough to work with. Clean hands or a clean spoon, and nothing metal left sitting against it.
14. Strain and bottle. Through a funnel and a fine strainer, leaving three or four centimetres of headspace at the top of each bottle. That gap is where the gas goes; fill to the brim and the pressure has nowhere to sit. Straining is worth doing even though the brown strands are only yeast and harmless to drink, because they carry on working in the bottle and they clog a narrow neck when you pour. Draw from the top of the jar rather than tipping the whole thing up, so the sediment on the bottom stays where it is, and do not wring the pellicle out over the funnel to get the last of it.
15. Seal it and leave it at room temperature for two to seven days. This is where the fizz comes from: sealed in, the last of the sugar turns to gas with nowhere to escape. A warm room does it in two days, a cool one takes a week.
16. Burp the bottles once a day. Crack each one open until you hear it hiss, then close it again. This is not optional with glass: a bottle left to build pressure for a week can break, and it is the only genuinely dangerous thing about making kombucha at home. No hiss at all means it is not ready and wants another day. The trick I use is to fill one small plastic bottle alongside the glass ones and squeeze it each day, because plastic flexes and glass tells you nothing; when that one has gone rock hard, the whole batch is carbonated and it all goes in the fridge.
17. Chill it. Once it is as fizzy as you want it, the fridge slows everything down and holds it there. Open the first one over the sink, cold and slowly, because a bottle that has been sitting somewhere warm comes out faster than you expect.

Recipe Card for Easy Homemade Kombucha

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Is It Mould, or Is It Meant to Look Like That?

This is the question every kombucha brewer asks at least once, and nearly every time the answer is that the jar is behaving normally. Three things turn up on the surface and only one of them is a problem.

A new pellicle is a pale, smooth, slightly rubbery layer forming flat across the whole surface. It often starts as a thin translucent skin you can barely see, sometimes with small bubbles caught underneath. That is exactly what should happen: the bacteria doing the souring need oxygen, so they work at the surface and build there.

Yeast looks alarming and is harmless. Brown or beige stringy strands hanging down from the SCOBY, or a murky sediment gathering at the bottom of the jar, are the yeast half of the culture doing its job. Strain them out at bottling if the look bothers you.

Mould is dry, fuzzy, and sits on top of the pellicle rather than in the liquid. It grows in distinct circular patches, usually white, blue-green or black, and it is furry in a way nothing else in the jar is. If you see that, pour the whole batch away, throw the SCOBY out with it and start again with a fresh culture. Do not scrape it off and carry on, and do not keep any of it as starter for the next batch.

Mould almost always means the acid did not drop fast enough, so the fix for next time is more starter tea and a warmer spot rather than better luck.

Keeping a SCOBY Between Batches

Every batch grows a new layer, so within a few months you have more SCOBY than you know what to do with. The answer is a SCOBY hotel: a jar kept for the cultures alone, the spare layers sitting in enough finished kombucha to cover them, covered with cloth and left at room temperature.

It asks very little of you. Top it up with sweet tea every month or so, because the culture is still slowly eating, and take the oldest, darkest layers out when the jar gets crowded. What comes out of a hotel is also the strongest starter tea you will ever have, since it has been souring for weeks rather than days.

It is also the answer to going away, rather than something to worry about. A covered jar with plenty of liquid will sit happily on its own for a month or two. Do not put a SCOBY in the fridge to store it, which stalls the culture and invites mould, and do not seal it into a container with no air.

Kombucha Troubleshooting: Common Problems & Simple Solutions

Even experienced kombucha brewers run into minor issues sometimes! Here’s how to easily solve the most common kombucha brewing problems, ensuring a successful batch every time:

1. My Kombucha isn’t fizzy after second fermentation

Possible reasons & fixes:

• Fermentation temperature too low: Move bottles to a warmer spot (around 24-27°C) for 2-3 additional days.
• Not enough sugar: Add a teaspoon of sugar or extra fruit juice per bottle next time for better carbonation.
• Leaky or loose bottles: Ensure bottles seal tightly. Airtight flip-top bottles work best.

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2. Kombucha tastes too sour or vinegary

• Fermented too long: Shorten first fermentation time (7-10 days) or reduce second fermentation duration.
• Too little sugar used: Slightly increase sugar content or decrease primary fermentation time.

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3. Kombucha tastes overly sweet (not enough fermentation)

• Extend fermentation: Let it ferment longer, taste-testing every few days until you reach your desired tartness.
• Increase brewing temperature slightly (up to 27°C) to speed fermentation next batch.

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4. SCOBY floating or sinking?

• Completely normal! SCOBYs naturally float, sink, or tilt - this won’t affect your kombucha quality.

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5. No new SCOBY forming

• Be patient: SCOBY formation may take longer during colder months.
• Weak starter tea or insufficient sugar/tea ratio: Follow suggested ratios and always use sufficient starter tea (at least 100ml per litre).

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6. White film or spots on top of Kombucha

• This is usually a healthy new SCOBY forming! Healthy SCOBYs are smooth, rubbery, and pale or slightly tan in colour.
• However, fuzzy or coloured (black/green) patches indicate mould and contamination. Discard and restart immediately if this occurs.

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7. Kombucha is cloudy or sediment at bottom

• Normal: Slight sediment is natural yeast and safe to consume. Strain before drinking if desired.

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8. Too vinegary or overly fermented taste

Overly sour kombucha is great as a vinegar substitute in salad dressings or sauces!

Shorten fermentation time next batch or dilute current batch with a little fresh tea or fruit juice.

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Kombucha FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q1: How much sugar per litre of kombucha tea should I use?

Use approximately 60-70 grams per litre. Sugar feeds the SCOBY during fermentation, promoting a healthy and flavourful brew.

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Q2: How many tea bags per litre for kombucha?

For black tea kombucha, use 5 tea bags per litre (or about 5 grams of loose-leaf tea). Adjust slightly according to taste, keeping close to this ideal ratio.

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Q3: Can kids or pregnant women drink kombucha?

Due to small amounts of naturally occurring alcohol and live probiotics, consult a healthcare provider before giving kombucha to children or drinking it during pregnancy.

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Q4: How much kombucha can you drink a day?

Drinking 200-400ml per day (around one or two glasses) is generally safe. Moderation ensures you receive kombucha’s benefits without overloading your digestive system.

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Q5: Can you get drunk from kombucha?

No - kombucha typically has less than 0.5% alcohol, too low to cause intoxication.
Note: Alcohol content temporarily increases when using sugary ingredients (like grapes) during second fermentation, but decreases by the third day.

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Q6: How long does kombucha last after opening?

After opening, kombucha maintains freshness and carbonation for 3-5 days if refrigerated. Unopened, refrigerated kombucha can last up to 4-6 weeks.

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Q7: Is kombucha good for acid reflux?

Some people find kombucha helps soothe mild acid reflux symptoms thanks to its probiotics. Individual responses vary, so introduce it gradually to see how your body reacts.

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Q8: Can you drink kombucha every day?

Yes! Drinking one or two 200ml servings daily is safe and beneficial for most people, providing probiotics that support gut health and digestion.

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Q9: What’s the best black tea for kombucha?

Loose-leaf Ceylon or Assam tea produces a robust, balanced flavour, making them the top choice for classic kombucha brewing.

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Dive Deeper into Fermentation

• Beet Kvass: A traditional Eastern European beverage made from fermented beets, offering a unique earthy flavour and a boost of probiotics.​
• Sourdough Bread: Experience the joy of baking with natural yeast, resulting in a loaf that’s both flavourful and easier to digest.​
• Cucumber Kimchi: A refreshing twist on the classic Korean side dish, this cucumber kimchi is spicy, tangy and stays crunchy.​
• Sourdough Focaccia: Combining the rich flavours of sourdough with the airy, olive oil-infused texture of focaccia, this bread is a must-try.​
• Polish Żurek Soup: A hearty and sour rye-based soup, Żurek is a staple in Polish cuisine, known for its comforting and robust flavours.

A Few Words from the Chef

This is my third year brewing kombucha now, and I make it from time to time rather than constantly. When I am between batches I keep my scoby resting in sweet tea in the cupboard, ready for whenever I need it. I brew most in autumn and winter, when a little help for the gut bacteria and immunity is very welcome. If you start your own scoby, let me know how you get on.