I’ve always wanted to try Kombucha, but it’s tough to find where I live. So, I figured, why not make it from scratch? How hard could it really be? I’ve done my fair share of fermentation projects, so this should be a breeze, right? Even if it’s not, I’ve got enough audacity to power through and see this thing through to the end.

Here’s what I have:

  • Water
  • Strong tea leaves
  • Glass jar
  • Oxygen
  • Patience

    According to this study, Kombucha is created with the help of a culture of bacteria and yeast called together as scoby, and below are the main microorganism species that live in this community:

  • Bacteria (Acetic Acid Bacteria):
    • Komagataeibacter species:
      • Komagataeibacter xylinus
      • Komagataeibacter rhaeticus (most abundant in the study)
      • Komagataeibacter saccharivorans
      • Komagataeibacter intermedius
      • Komagataeibacter hansenii (formerly Gluconacetobacter hansenii )

        These bacteria are critical for producing the cellulose pellicle (SCOBY structure) and acetic acid during fermentation. They seem to be most important and acetic acid is key here.

  • Yeast :
    • Brettanomyces species (dominant yeast genus):
      • Brettanomyces bruxellensis
      • Brettanomyces anomalus

  • Other yeast genera (less dominant but present in some SCOBY archetypes):
    • Zygosaccharomyces bisporus
    • Starmerella davenportii
    • Lachancea fermentati
    • Saccharomyces spp.

      Yeasts convert sugars to ethanol, which is later oxidized by acetic acid bacteria.

      We know that you can make a ginger bug, a fizzy, fermented starter from ginger, sugar, and water. That implies ginger skin carries some useful wild yeast and bacteria. Similarly, you can make vinegar from just apple scraps, sugar, and time, so apples seem to have some acetic acid bacteria.

      So here’s the theory: if ginger skin and apple peels can both harbor the microbes I need since they create acetic acid which seem most important, maybe they’re enough to fake a SCOBY.

      It won’t be authentic. It might not even taste like Kombucha and I won’t be able to verify or compare. But it’ll ferment. It’ll fizz. It might even sting a little. That’s close enough.

      Bootleg Kombucha, here we go.

      TBD…