How to Cultivate Kombucha at Home? Detailed Method and Steps

Kombucha is a symbiotic culture of yeast, acetic acid bacteria, and lactic acid bacteria, commonly known as Haibao or Weibao. It is a microbial fermented beverage made from sweetened tea. It tastes sweet and sour, like lemon juice or bayberry juice. Regular consumption can prevent and treat more than 20 diseases including gastrointestinal disorders, and it has three major benefits: strengthening the body, prolonging life, and beautifying the skin. It is a pure natural health drink. If you cultivate kombucha for sale, it is a good project with small investment, large profit, and simple technology. Here is a brief introduction on how to cultivate kombucha at home:

1. Selection of culture containers. For cultivating kombucha, it is best to use glass containers. Porcelain containers can also be used, but changes inside cannot be observed. Enamel containers can also be used, but changes inside cannot be observed. Enamel containers can be used for short-term cultivation, but not for long-term use. Metal containers such as iron, aluminum, and copper must not be used for cultivating kombucha. When first starting to cultivate kombucha, the container must be sterilized by steaming or scalding with boiling water to reduce the chance of contamination by unwanted microbes.

2. Preparation of the culture liquid. The raw materials for cultivating kombucha are tea water and sugar. Black tea, green tea, or scented tea can all be used. Tea quality has little effect on kombucha, so cheaper tea should be chosen. However, moldy tea must not be used to cultivate kombucha. White sugar, granulated sugar, rock sugar, glucose, or honey can be used as the sugar, among which glucose makes kombucha grow fastest. Do not use maltose or brown sugar to cultivate kombucha, because they contain many impurities, the kombucha cultured with them tastes bad, and it is prone to molding. The water only needs to be clean. The important ratio of sugar, tea, and water is 5:0.1-0.4:100. The preparation process is to first brew the tea with boiling water, dissolve the sugar in it while hot, filter out the tea leaves after the tea water cools, and inoculate when the tea water temperature drops to 30°C.

3. Inoculation and cultivation. For the first cultivation of kombucha, the starter culture needs to be purchased. Both the culture liquid and the culture film (the jellyfish-like film floating on top of the culture liquid) can be used as starter, and it is best to use both at the same time. Mix the culture liquid and the culture medium evenly in the culture container at a ratio of 1:4, and the amount of culture film used should be no less than half of the cross-sectional area of the container. Then cover the container opening with clean gauze or a handkerchief and tie it tightly. This can prevent dust and keep fruit flies from getting in to lay eggs and hatch maggots, while also ensuring ventilation, which is beneficial to the formation of the culture film. After inoculation, place it in a place without direct sunlight and cultivate it statically at about 28°C without moving it. For home cultivation of kombucha, corresponding measures must be taken as the seasons change to keep the temperature between 25-32°C, not too high or too low, so that the kombucha can mature in 10 days.

4. Treatment after kombucha matures. When the culture film is milky white, the culture liquid does not bubble, is clear and transparent, lighter in color than the original tea water, and has a strong sour taste, it indicates that fermentation has matured. PH test paper can also be used to measure its PH value; if it has reached below 3.0, it indicates maturity. For matured kombucha, carefully pour the culture liquid from the culture container into a container for storing the culture liquid, being careful not to let the light brown sediment at the bottom flow out with the culture liquid. This culture liquid can be stored at room temperature for 2 months or longer and can be drunk over time. If stored for a longer time, a thin culture film will regrow on the surface of the culture liquid, which does not affect the quality.

After pouring out the culture liquid, wash your hands or use sterilized tweezers to take out the culture film, remove the browned part on top of the culture film, and rinse the culture film several times with cool boiled water. Pour out the sediment at the bottom of the container, wash the container clean with cool boiled water, pour in the culture liquid, culture medium, and the treated culture film, and then continue cultivating kombucha according to the above method.

5. Drinking kombucha. Drink 2-3 times a day, one cup each time (one cup diluted from 20 ml of stock solution). You can drink the stock solution, or dilute it with cool boiled water or warm water. Adding sugar or not is fine. The drinking amount must not be excessive, to prevent stimulating gastrointestinal contractions and causing stomach pain or diarrhea. Do not take it at the same time as other medicines; allow one or two hours between them. Some people experience facial heat, redness, and abdominal rumbling when they first start drinking it. After continuing to drink for a period of time, these uncomfortable reactions will disappear. However, some people may be allergic. Those who are allergic can take common anti-allergy medicine and immediately stop drinking kombucha.