Honey Rooibos Kombucha
Want to make sugar-free kombucha, or avoid caffeinated tea? Here is how to make kombucha with herbal tea, honey, and other alternate sweeteners.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 1/2 cups 1x
- Category: Beverages
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Probiotic
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 rooibos tea bag or 1 tsp of green tea
- 1/4 cup of honey (or other sweeteners, see notes)
- 4 cups of filtered water
- 1 kombucha SCOBY
- 1/2 cup of leftover kombucha
Instructions
- Boil 2 cups of water and brew a sweet tea with rooibos and honey.
- Add the remaining 2 cups of water to cool the tea down to room temperature.
- Place the brewed tea, SCOBY, and leftover kombucha in a large glass jar or measuring cup.
- Cover with a tea towel and use a rubber band to keep it in place.
- Allow it to ferment in a warm location for 7-15 days (it will take longer than regular kombucha).
- After 7 days, pour off a little liquid to taste it. It is finished when it has reached the desired level of sourness.
- When you like the flavor, it’s ready to be bottled! Pour the honey rooibos kombucha into a plastic bottle or a swing-top beer bottle. Either refresh the SCOBY in its usual sweet tea or use a fresh new SCOBY to brew another batch of honey rooibos kombucha.
- Kombucha brewed without sucrose (sugar) will be less bubbly. If you really want bubbles, prime the carbonation by adding 1/2 tsp of regular sugar into the bottle. This will feed the kombucha enough to carbonate.
Notes
- Raw honey has its own yeast and bacterial culture. However, brewing tea with boiling water should kill the natural yeast and bacteria. Otherwise, you may end up making mead!
- Fruit juice also contains a mix of fructose and glucose. To sweeten with fruit juice use 1 cup of clear fruit juice (grape, apple, pear) with 3 cups of tea. The exact amount of sugar will depend on the type of juice. However, as long as you aren’t brewing with straight cranberry juice, the SCOBY should have enough fruit sugars to brew.
- Maple syrup can be used in the same way as honey. Just mix 1/4 cup into the tea.
Keywords: probiotic, sugar free, caffeine free, rooibos tea, honey, green tea, herbal, juice