I adopted this recipe from thekitchn.com and made at least a dozen successful batches. The plain kombucha will take about 2 weeks to complete at room temperature and requires little prep.

Plain Kombucha

Makes 1 gallon

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 quarts water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 bags black tea (or 1 tablespoons loose tea)
• 4 bags green or herbal tea (or 1 tablespoon loose tea)
• 2 cups pre-made unflavored kombucha (from your last homemade batch or store-bought)
• 1 scoby

Steps

1. Bring the water to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar to dissolve. Steep tea until the water has cooled.

2. Once the tea is cool, remove the tea bags. Stir in the pre-made kombucha.

3. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon glass jar and gently slide the scoby on top with clean hands. Cover the mouth of the jar with a few layers of cheesecloth or paper towels secured with a rubber band.

4. Keep the fermenting kombucha at room temperature, out of direct sunlight, and where it won’t get jostled. Ferment for 7 to 10 days, or until taste is desired.

5. Remove the scoby. Measure out your starter tea from this batch of kombucha to be added to the next batch.

6. Stir kombucha to distribute leftover scoby fragments. Add the kombucha to bottles. Leave about an inch of head room in each bottle. Store the bottled kombucha at room-temperature out of direct sunlight and allow 1 to 3 days for the kombucha to carbonate.

7. Refrigerate once carbonated.

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