Water kefir
Milk kefir
Kombucha
Ginger beer
Kefir duo
Kefir and kombucha
Starter kit
RennetKombucha straight from the first fermentation is lightly sparkling, tart and still tastes mostly of tea. The second fermentation, in a closed bottle, is where you give it a flavour of its own and, above all, more fizz. Ginger is one of the best things to add: the root brings sugars and aromas that the yeasts in the kombucha get to work on with enthusiasm. Lemon keeps it fresh. Together they make a spicy, sparkling drink that suits every season, from a hot July afternoon to a grey Monday in November.
Ingredients
- 1 litre kombucha from the first fermentation
- 20 g fresh ginger
- juice of half an unwaxed lemon
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Method
- With clean hands, lift the SCOBY out of your kombucha and set it aside with 250 ml of kombucha as starter liquid for the next batch.
- Wash the ginger and grate it coarsely, or slice it very thinly.
- Put the ginger, lemon juice and sugar into a clean 1 litre swing-top bottle.
- Fill the bottle with kombucha to about 3 cm below the rim and close it.
- Leave the bottle at room temperature, out of direct sun, for 2 to 5 days. Open it briefly after 2 days to check the fizz.
- Chill the bottle for at least a few hours.
- Open it cold and slowly and pour the kombucha through a small sieve into glasses.
First, the base
You start with ordinary kombucha: 1 SCOBY with 1 cup of starter liquid (about 250 ml), 80 g sugar, 3 tea bags (about 8 g loose tea) and 1 litre water, left for 7 to 10 days at 20 to 25°C. Taste it with a straw slipped down the side of the jar: it should still be faintly sweet and already clearly tart. The full method is in How to make kombucha, and the choice of tea in the best tea for kombucha. If the kettle goes on for a proper brew several times a day, you already have the main ingredient in the cupboard.
Grated or sliced?
Grated ginger gives much more flavour and more fizz than slices. Grating opens up the fibres, so the sugars and aromas pass into the kombucha faster. With 20 g grated, after three days you get a drink with a real kick. Prefer it gentler? Use thin slices, or reduce to 10 g.
The lemon juice makes it fresher and slightly sharper, which is why the teaspoon of sugar goes in: it feeds the fizz rather than sweetening the drink. Leave out the lemon zest, which can turn bitter over a few days.
Variations
- Ginger and turmeric: a few slices of fresh turmeric root alongside the ginger. A deep golden colour and an earthy note.
- Ginger and orange: the juice of half an orange instead of the lemon. Rounder, a little sweeter, lovely in winter.
- Ginger, lemon and mint: a sprig of mint in the bottle for the last day.
- Ginger and pear: 100 ml pear juice instead of the sugar, for a softer, fruity version.
- Ginger and berries: add a small handful of raspberries, as in the berry kombucha.
Storing
Once the fizz is right, keep the bottle in the fridge. The cold slows things right down, so the kombucha stays good for a week or two, slowly getting a little drier. Strain out the ginger before storing it longer, so the flavour does not keep getting sharper. More about timing and pressure is in the guide to the kombucha second fermentation.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my ginger kombucha not fizzy?
Can I use ground ginger?
Should I put the ginger in the jar with the SCOBY?
Is there alcohol in it?
With a live kombucha SCOBY you can start your first batch today. All guides and recipes are on the kombucha page.