How to make kombucha at home

This story first appeared on Food52, an online community that gives you everything you need for a happier kitchen and home – that means tested recipes, a shop full of beautiful products, a cooking hotline, and everything in between! Gather together your ingredients and tools: 7 cups of water; 1/2 cup of cane sugar; 4 bags of black tea ; 1 cup of plain unpasteurized store-bought kombucha ; a large, extremely clean and dry wide-mouth canning jar; a thin, clean, tightly-woven piece of fabric or tea towel ; and a few sturdy rubber bands. SCOBY I've said it before but I'll reiterate it here in my mini-kombucha dictionary: SCOBY stands for "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast" and is an essential ingredient used in the fermentation process for kombucha. * * * Here's how to make your first batch of kombucha : The first steps are very simple — brewing, sweetening, and cooling tea. Make more tea, then use that SCOBY in your second batch of kombucha — that's the only road I've taken so far.