Okay all you kombucha lovers, this watermelon kombucha recipe is going to become your go-to drink on those long hot summer days.
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Supplies you will need to make this watermelon kombucha recipe
- medium sized pot
- glass gallon jar
- Cotton dish towel or cloth and rubber band
- strainer
- funnel if you are bottling into single serving bottles for the second ferment
- wooden spoon
- measuring cups
- food processor or blender
- swing top bottles if you want to bottle into individual servings.
If you don’t already have all these supplies then I suggest buying a kombucha starter kit that comes with everything you need to brew your own kombucha at home. A lot of kits like this one, will even come with all the ingredients already included (tea, sugar, and the kombucha scoby and starter liquid, for the first batch of kombucha).
Watermelon kombucha ingredients
- About 12 cups offiltered water
- 3 tablespoons of loose leaf black tea or 8 tea bags
- 1 cup of organic cane sugar
- SCOBY and starter liquid from a previous batch of homemade kombucha, at least half a cup
- 1 cup of watermelon juice.
How to make watermelon kombucha
Begin by brewing the black tea or you can use a combination of black and green tea if you would like, Just like you would to make any kind of kombucha.
For this recipeI will be using black oolong tea.
1-In a medium pot, bring four cups of water to boil. Make sure you don’t use tap water, because city tap water may have cholorine or fluoride in it. You don’t want to use water that may have aditives that can harm the SCOBY.
2-Turn off the heat and add three tablespoons of loose tea leaves.
3-Let the tea steep for about ten minutes, then using a strainer remove the tea leaves and discard.
4-Add one cup of organic cane sugar and stir well.
5-Once the sugar is completly dissolved, pour the sweet tea into a glass gallon-sized brew jar.
6-Add about seven to eight cups of cold filtered water to the brewing jar.
7-Leave the tea to cool down on the kitchen counter.
8-Once the tea is no longer hot add the symbiotic culture of bacteria (the SCOBY) and one cup of starter liquid from a previous batch of kombucha.
9-Cover the jar with a cotton cloth or kitchen towel and secure with a rubber band. The tea is ready to be left alone for the first fermentation.
10-Place the jar in a safe place at room temperature and away from direct sunlight for eight to ten days Do not move it around so you don’t disturb the fermentation process.
If you have never made kombucha before and need more detailed instructions go ahead and read this How to make kombucha at home for beginners blog post.
Second fermentation
After ten days the first fermentation is done.
1-To begin the second fermentation, take the SCOBY out of the tea with one cup of the fermented tea and place in a glass jar or in a SCOBY hotel for longer storage.
2-In a blender container or food processor add chunks of a juicy watermelon and pulse until pureed. You want enough watermelon to make at least one cup of watermelon juice.
3-Pour one cup of the watermelon puree through a strainer into the one gallon glass jar.
4-lightly stir with a wooden spoon and taste. If you like sweet kombucha you might need to add a couple of drops of stevia or a couple of teaspoons of added sugarto get the extra sweetness you like.
5- cover the glass jar with an airtight lid and let it sit for an additional 2-4 days. The additional two to four days will give you an effervescent kombucha like the ones you buy at grocery stores.
NOTE: If you want to bottle into individual servings using swing top bottles this is when you do that. pour the tea into the individual bottles using a funnel, secure the airtight lid and let sit at room temperature for no more than 4 days.
After four days, the second ferment is done. Go ahead andstore the kombucha in the fridge until you are ready to enjoy it.
for any troubleshooting questions on how to make this watermelon kombucha recipe or any other kombucha, read the Kombucha FAQ’s blog post I wrote.
Watermelon Kombucha Recipe
