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The Simplest Kombucha Recipe (Prep: 10 Minutes)

Researched and Written by:
Richelle Godwin, RDN Richelle Godwin, RDN

There are 1000s of recipes for making kombucha online. But we worked out the quickest way to make it at home...with minimal fuss. Just 4 ingredients and 10 minutes of your time.

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Table of Contents

    Ingredients:

    • 4 cups water
    • 3 tea bags (black or green tea)
    • 1/3 cup white sugar / cane sugar - organic pure cane sugar if you can get it
    • 2 cups unflavoured kombucha (store bought or from previous batch)

    Directions:

    1. Bring water to boil in a saucepan then turn off heat.
    2. Add tea bags and leave them to steep for the same time it usually takes to make a cup of tea.
    3. Remove tea bags and add in sugar. Stir until dissolved.
    4. Transfer from saucepan to a clean glass jar. It is important to bring this down to room temperature to avoid heat destroying microorganisms in the kombucha.
    5. Pour sweetened tea into a glass brewing jar. Add unflavoured kombucha and stir to combine.
    6. Cover with a coffee filter or porous cloth and secure with a rubber band
    7. Place jar out of direct sunlight at room temperature. After 2-3 weeks a thin almost clear-coloured film of SCOBY will form on the liquid - this is our new baby SCOBY. Wait until the SCOBY is at least 1/4 inch thick before using it to brew kombucha.

    Tips for making at home

    • Try to use homemade kombucha as the starter tea, since it will likely have more beneficial bacteria and yeast in it.  If you have to use store-bought kombucha, make sure it is raw and unflavored, and ideally has some clear or brown ‘bits’ floating in it, as they are your bacteria buddies and will become the SCOBY. It can’t be too clear or sterile. 
    • Use at least 1 cup or 250ml of this starter tea.
    • Add in 1 cup of cooled black tea and white sugar
    • Keep the temperature above 68 F or 20 degrees.
    • Avoid putting it in direct sunlight.
    • Make sure you don’t touch or move the jar.
    • And finally, since the kombucha is not very acidic during these early stages of the SCOBYs growth, keep a close eye out for any potential mold.

    Evidence Based

    An evidence hierarchy is followed to ensure conclusions are formed off of the most up-to-date and well-designed studies available. We aim to reference studies conducted within the past five years when possible.

    • Systematic review or meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
    • Randomized controlled trials
    • Controlled trials without randomization
    • Case-control (retrospective) and cohort (prospective) studies
    • A systematic review of descriptive, qualitative, or mixed-method studies
    • A single descriptive, qualitative, or mixed-method study
    • Studies without controls, case reports, and case series
    • Animal research
    • In vitro research

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