The history of kombucha dates back over 2,000 years to China and Japan from where it spread to Russia and later all over the world. I remember when back in the '90s many of my friends’ mothers brewed kombucha in their houses. For some reason it never ended up in our kitchen and I didn't get to know its taste until much later. 

If I were to calculate how much money I have spent on this beverage over the years, it would probably come to a significant amount. I drank an average of three bottles a week for 8 years before I finally started brewing it myself. 

For those of you who are not familiar yet with this bubbly health elixir, Kombucha is a fermented beverage of black tea and sugar (from various sources including cane sugar, fruit or honey) that’s used as a functional food. It contains a colony of bacteria and yeast  commonly known as a “SCOBY” (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) that is responsible for initiating the fermentation process once combined with sugar. After being fermented, kombucha becomes carbonated and contains vinegar, b-vitamins, enzymes, probiotics and a high concentration of acetic, gluconic and lactic acid. 

I’ve been brewing this beverage for over a year now and tried different types of sugar: brown, cane, raw, regular white, and honey. I must admit regular (organic or not) white sugar works best for our liking. The preparation process is the following:

• boil 1 gallon of water 
• pour it in a glass jar 
• add 1 cup of sugar
• add 8 tea bags of black tea (here you can also experiment by putting green tea instead, but I wouldn't suggest it until you have gotten experienced with black tea kombucha)
• stir the mixture and let it cool down
• pour in a cup of kombucha together with SCOBY (each batch uses SCOBY from the last)
• cover with a cloth or a paper towel making sure that it stays secured
• leave at room temperature for 10 days
• bottle it when you like the way it tastes. Bottled kombucha will have more carbonation than the one left to brew in the jar. 

When we just started brewing this wonderful drink we used a gallon jar which wasn't enough for both of us. Later we got a 2 gallon vessel, consequently increasing sugar to 2 cups and tea to 16 bags. We determined that this amount also gives the best taste when let to brew for 14 days. 

We had batches that came out either overly vinegary, too sweet, not carbonated enough or else when they were left for over 2 weeks due to our travels, contained too much bacteria (which resembles a jellyfish by texture), lacked sugar, or didn't have the right sugar. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the right kombucha taste is in the mouth of its drinker. If you have the time and like to experiment, not to mention save money and enjoy something of your own making, play with it and determine what works for you. And if you wish to drink kombucha not only for it's taste but also probiotics and qualities, here are the health benefits described by Dr. Axe and the journal of Food Microbiology: 

1. Detoxification
2. Digestion 
3. Energy 
4. Immune health 
5. Joint care
6. Cancer prevention 
7. Weight loss

To read more about those benefits, visit https://draxe.com/7-reasons-drink-kombucha-everyday/