How to Make Kombucha
Mortal Kombucha started as a joke. Owner and founder Becca Schepps was working as the creative director for an advertising company in Boulder, and one particular project on kombucha packaging caught her attention — one of its ingredients was “purified love.” Schepps laughed and decided that day she was going to make a fake brand of “aggressive” kombucha. She even created a website and Instagram for her new idea. People loved the content she was creating, and many inquired on how to actually purchase the spunky tea beverage Schepps was posting about. The joke got real. Fast.
“I didn’t know how to make kombucha; I barely cooked,” Schepps shared. Yet she and her husband found themselves in their kitchen attempting to make the product shortly after. She responded to people that orders wouldn’t be ready for three weeks — the time in which she was hoping to learn the craft and whip up a batch.
Becca Schepps making kombucha in her Longmont facility. Photo by Lexi Reich.
Six months later, in August 2017, Mortal Kombucha found its way into mainstream grocery chains. Today, Mortal Kombucha is in every Whole Foods in the Rocky Mountains. I picked mine up from Lucky’s Market in Boulder!
When asked to describe kombucha to someone who has never heard of it before, Schepps said, “They’ll probably hate it.”
It’s a slightly vinegary tea, specifically a fermented carbonated beverage (Schepps recommends not smelling it before you drink it). So why even drink it? It has incredible properties for gut health. It also offers sustained energy without the crash of traditional caffeine. Personally, I adore the bubbly taste, especially when meshed with fun flavors. The most popular one at Mortal Kombucha is “Black Sage,” composed of blackberry, sage and ginger. The packaging is colorful and bright. “It’s like a soda that’s good for you,” she explains.
Schepps shared with Spoke + Blossom how she makes her kombucha. She thinks it’s fun to make at home, as that’s how she started off, but now that she has a proper facility in Longmont, she recommends purchasing your kombucha as an easy way to ensure the bacteria is controlled in a safe and clean environment.
NOTE
The scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), known as the “mother,” is a thick and rubbery film; it is what houses the bacteria and transforms the tea into a fizzy kombucha drink. It’s like the coral reef of the bacteria and yeast world. You can grow your own with tea, sugar and pre-made kombucha, or you can purchase a kombucha starter culture from companies like Kombucha Brooklyn (where Schepps got her first starter kit).
WHAT YOU NEED
1 gallon glass jar
1 cup of boiled tea (black works best; don’t use decaffeinated). Use about six to eight single tea bags to ensure the tea is the strength of a gallon.
200g sugar
2 cups unsweetened, unflavored kombucha
Tightly woven cloth (not as porous as a cheese cloth)
Rubber band
Thermometer
Scoby
TO MAKE KOMBUCHA
1. Bring 14 cups of water to boil.
2. Remove from heat and add sugar.
3. Add the tea and allow it to steep while water cools.
4. With clean hands, remove scoby and place on a plate.
5. Pour tea and unflavored starter kombucha into the clean jar.
6. Gently add scoby to jar.
7. Cover with cloth and secure with rubber band.
8. Store at room temperature for one to three weeks. Thermometer should say the mixture is around 78 degrees (the hotter it is, the sourer the kombucha; if making in the winter, a heating pad may be useful).
9. Once complete (a light fermentation and a slightly vinegary taste), remove scoby and run beverage through a strainer. Add flavors and let it sit for a second fermentation for another three to seven days.
10. Enjoy!
Originally published in the Winter 2019-2020 issue of Spoke+Blossom