Recipe: Kombucha Mother

Rather than buy a mother online, you can make one in your home.  A forewarning: be very careful when handling this culture.  Metals and soap will kill it.

Ingredients:
Black tea bags
Sugar
Water
Raw Kombucha (not the stuff with the juice and flavors)

Equipment:
Stainless Steel pot
Wooden stirring utensil
Glass Jar
Muslin or Cheese Cloth
Rubber Band
Strainer ( if using loose tea)

     First, and most important: clean all of your equipment thoroughly with hot water.  Second, prepare the tea by boiling the water, the adding sugar.  The ratio between the water and sugar should be 16 to 1 by volume so if you have 1 gallon of water, you should add 1 cup of sugar.  If you have 1 quart of water, 4 tablespoons of sugar.  Basically its 1 tablespoon of sugar per a cup of water.  Once the sugar is dissolved, add the tea, however much you prefer, and brew for 5 minutes.  Strain out the tea leaves or take out the bags and let cool to room temperature for a few hours.  Once it is cooled, pour the tea into the mason jar so that it takes up about 75% of the space, then pour in the kombucha until there is a little room at the top.  Cover with your cloth of choice and secure with a rubber band.  Let it sit for 2 to 3 weeks and hope it works.  Once you have a mother you have infinite kombucha.  Because it is a living organism, it will grow as you keep it so most people peel away layers and use them as fertilizer or give them to other kombucha lovers.  They can also be frozen for 3 to 4 months, so you are able to keep a back up if you wish.