Home Brewed Kombucha Kit by Kombucha Brooklyn

I’m a huge fan of Kombucha. Ever since my first sip of the effervescent fermented tea beverage I have craved it almost every day.  The problem for me is it’s pricey- $3 per bottle unless you find it on sale for $2.50- so I “justify” buying it occasionally as it really helps rehydrate me after Bikram yoga (which I practice at least 4 times per week). I can’t, however, justify $12-$15 per week on this stuff because my money doesn’t grow on trees.

But, now I have a new supply of my favorite bubbly beverage- I’m making it myself.  Food52 ran an offer last month on a kombucha home brew kit from Kombucha Brooklyn, so I bought one. I followed the instructions exactly and here’s a glimpse of my first batch.

You can see the original SCOBY- Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast- on the bottom of the jar and the new one that formed floating on the top. It’s like a science experiment… and it’s kind of weird, but I heart my SCOBY.

Kombucha Brooklyn sends you everything you need to start home brewing Kombucha, including your first SCOBY. The kit I bought came with this big jar for fermenting (including the cloth cover for the top), tea, sugar, and a temperature strip so you can be sure you’re fermenting within the optimal temperature range.

I don’t have air conditioning, so I checked on my ‘bucha every day to be sure it wasn’t cooking. After two weeks, I tasted my first batch and loved it. Here’s a photo of how much Kombucha I brewed-  I filled 2 amber bottles (provided by Kombucha Brooklyn) and a little more than 2 cups.

Then I started batch 2 using both the original and the new SCOBY, 1.5 cups of my first batch of bucha, and the tea and sugar mixture.

The box of supplies has directions on it which are easy to follow, and Kombucha Brooklyn has a great website with flavoring ideas, questions and answers, and a shop for more bucha brewing supplies. I’m a big fan now and think you should check them out. They supply a tea blend and cane sugar, which I’m going to use at least for my first three batches.  I’ll have to decide whether or not to continue buying my tea mail-order after that, but for now, it’s a great starter kit.

I decided to leave my first batch unflavored, so stay tuned for batch #2, because I’ll definitely get a little more creative with that. Happy brewing!

Tangerine Tea Simple Syrup

I’m so grateful to get this recipe from Kasi Tenborg, the manager at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House.  After tasting their Tangerine Bourbon Sour, I decided I MUST make this at home.

Here’s the simple syrup recipe:

• Steep 1 large pot of Boulder Tangerine Tea (available at the Dushanbe Teahouse) for approximately 5 minutes (and then REMOVE the basket of tea)
• Add 3/4 cup of white sugar to the teapot and stir until it dissolves
• Allow tea mixture to cool completely

The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse- Not Just Great Food and Fine Tea… Fine Tea Cocktails, Too!

Boulder is so blessed to have the gorgeous and intricately carved Dushanbe Teahouse right along Boulder Creek in our downtown park. Locals and visitors flock to this majestic space to admire the craftsmanship of the building- it’s design, hand-carved cedar pillars, ornate art- and the history of this completely hand-made gift from our sister city, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

I’ve always loved the Teahouse and admire its beauty every time I pass by. The food, oversaw by Executive Chef Lenny Martinelli, is fantastic. Sara Stewart Martinelli’s tea program featuring a selection of over 100 premium loose teas makes the daily Traditional Afternoon Tea service an experience not to be missed. But now, I might be so inclined to visit a little more often for a cocktail.

Cocktails? What does a teahouse know about cocktails? Well, it seems they know quite a bit about crafting cocktails with tea.

Here’s one of my favorites: the Boulder Tangerine Bourbon Sour

Kasi Tenborg, the cocktail creator for the Teahouse, makes tea-simple-syrups to use in some unique libations. The Boulder Tangerine Bourbon Sour has a housemade tangerine and tea simple syrup, which is a concoction I had never heard of before. All I know is this cocktail was refreshing on a hot afternoon and I plan to return to sample more of these tea cocktails. Lucky for me, the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse is now a featured stop on some of my cocktail tours with Local Table Tours, so I expect to sample them all… in good time, of course.

Boulder Tangerine Bourbon Sour

• 1.5 oz Maker’s Mark
• 1 oz sour mix
• 1 oz Tangerine Tea Simple Syrup

Cheers!