My first batch of kombucha (and the second, which was better)

A friend gave me a SCOBY. I had to do something with it.

I'm not the kind of person who ferments things. I was given a SCOBY by a coworker who'd grown too many, and out of mild obligation, I tried to make kombucha. Here's how the first two batches went.

Batch one — too sweet, too short

Followed a YouTube recipe. Black tea, sugar, the SCOBY, a quart jar with a cloth over the top. Set it in a cabinet. Waited five days. Tasted it — too sweet, almost like flat soda. Bottled it anyway, fridged it, drank some over a week. Fine, not great.

What went wrong

Five days was too short for my kitchen temperature. The SCOBY was barely active. The sugar hadn't been converted. Also — the recipe I followed had the wrong tea:sugar:water ratio.

Batch two — let it ride

This time I used the standard ratio: 1 cup sugar, 8 black tea bags, 14 cups water, cooled to room temp. SCOBY in. Cloth on top. Waited two weeks.

Day 7 it tasted vaguely fermented. Day 10 it was getting tangy. Day 14 it tasted like real kombucha — slightly tart, lightly fizzy after a second ferment with fruit.

Note: Always taste it. Don't rely on the calendar. Kitchen temperature changes everything. A warm kitchen ferments faster than a cool one.

Where I am now

Second ferment with frozen blueberries gave the best results — sweet-tart, properly fizzy after three days at room temp. I'm on batch six. Each one slightly better.

I keep two jars going now in rotation. Time investment: maybe 20 minutes a week. Cost per bottle: about $0.40. Store-bought kombucha is $4. I'm not sure I'll ever buy it again.