Kombucha is one of my fave beverages, and wait, before I go ranting about how much I like it…,I oughta stop and clue ya in on what exactly Kombucha is. Kombucha is a probiotic, living, fermented tea that is LOADED with enzymes, friendly critters to support your digestive system, organic acids and detoxifying elements. Sound awesome? Well it did to me as well when I read the myriad health benefits listed on the first bottle of kombucha I sampled back when I was living in PA.
Amanda and I picked up a bottle of this interesting concoction for the first time around the same time I got started with raw foods. The first sip was reminiscent of carbonated apple cider vinegar…ok….although not delicious, intriguingly the flavor grew on me, and about an hour after finishing it Amanda and I both noticed, not only a warm feeling in our stomachs, but also a burst of energy! I started doing some research on this fizzy living beverage and found that it was brewable/growable at home! Being a DIY kinda guy, and learning that it’s inexpensive to brew your own, I was IN!
Showing off the SCOBY at my first 'bucha workshop at Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe as Glen Colello films
About 2 years ago we picked up our SCOBY (which is short for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) and got brewing! I was so psyched up to add this to my raw and living food concocting experiments, and it really brought me back to those days of raising Sea Monkeys and other weird pets…only this one I would be eating. I did lots of research on this wonderful brew, and watched other home brewer’s adventures on YouTube. After creating some batches that were a wee bit south of that fizzy goodness we had experienced from the health food store, I pulled off a batch that was outstandingly good and cost a fraction of the pre-bottled stuff!! As if that wasn’t neat enough, I can now add my own fun flavorings to the kombucha when I bottle it up for the second fermentation, flavorings such as fresh squeezed ginger juice, blended wild blueberries, or vanilla bean pods! Oh yeah! Turning a ridiculously healthy beverage into a tasty one that could rival soda….now that’s the kinda stuff I’m into! :0)
Fast forward to my life now, doing raw food presentations and talks, I noticed people’s faces light up when I would mention my kombucha brewing endeavors during a raw food workshop. So I did a kombucha creating workshop at Catch a Healthy Habit Café shortly after moving here to CT, which was very warmly received. The videos of this first workshop (taken by Glen Colello of Catch) can be found at his YouTube channel (which I HIGHLY recommend ya check out if you’re interested in raw foods and healthy living! There have been many, many awesome speakers at the Café and Glen has filmed large portions of their talks! So there is a wealth of fun info there waiting to be watched!)
Flash forward to just last night at Catch, where I presented my second kombucha workshop and I shared much of the cool new info I’ve picked up about culturing, brewing and flavoring this bubbly, healthy drink! Again, Glen has shot some awesome footage of my workshop (which I had a blast doing!) and I can now give you a sneak-peek of what it would’ve been like to be there!
This first video gives you a good idea of the equipment you’d need to start brewing your own goodness at home…a lot less than you might assume!
Part 2, I get into some of the other fun uses for your SCOBY….from bath toy to band-aid, a zoogleal mat can perform many tasks! :0)
Part 3, Where (and where not) to brew your culture and putting some love in your brew!
Part 4 Finishing off your brew, other brewing vessel options and why you should or should not use your SCOBY as a hat.
Filed under: Keeping it raw and healthy, Videos, What's Rory up to?, how to | Tagged: brewing, catch a healthy habit cafe, detox, detoxifying, diet, enzymes, food, Glen Colello, health food, healthy, kombucha, probiotiocs, raw, raw dog rory, raw food, rawdawg rory, rory, SCOBY, tea, vegan, video, zoogleal mat | 1 Comment »























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