Kombucha, The Mushroom Tea

By Marla Fassler

Brewing Kombucha has many benefits, from making you look like a mad scientist in the kitchen to providing a healthy, fizzy drink that’s good for the gut to your family and friends. Kombucha tea has become increasingly popular in the past few years, but its origins go back more than 2000 years where it was brewed in China, Japan and Russia.

Hi! My name is Marla, I’m a gardener, yoga instructor and a brewer of kombucha.

Kombucha tea starts with the SCOBY, the weird slimy looking mass that floats on top of the tea. This mass is a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. Doesn’t sound so great, does it? But bacteria and yeast are found naturally within all of us, and our guts can especially benefit from ‘good’ bacteria.

SCOBY’s are also known as The Mother, just like the mother that you find in organic apple cider vinegar. When brewed or fermented, they produce daughters. These SCOBY families can build up and they reside in a SCOBY hotel. The accommodations are lovely, just a little tea for them to soak in and they’ll be happy for a bit. But what do you do when your hotel no longer has vacancies? Well, let me tell you.

• Give them up for adoption.
• Bury them in the backyard (compost).
• Bake with it!
• Use them instead of tortillas in the Face Slap Challenge (Kidding. Don’t do this!)

We’ll discuss these topics and more when you come to my Kombucha Brewing program taking place this spring. See you there!