Kombucha

Kombucha is a very interesting part of tea culture, with origins that aren't totally clear.  The most commonly believed origin says that it started in ancient Northern China.  Kombucha is fermented sweet tea.  During the fermentation yeast eat the sugar to make achohol, then, bacteria eat the alcohol produced by the yeast. In doing so they produce acetic acid(the thing that makes vinegar, vinegar) among other things and lower the alcohol content to negligible amounts.  I won't get too much into the production of kombucha because that is for a later post. 

I'm not one to preach the health benefits of tea(or in this case kombucha)  or to tell people to go out and buy expensive "health" craze items.  So I won't start now.  The real reason you're learning about kombucha is because soon I'll be brewing my own and maybe you will as well!  I am really excited about this because it's probably the only drink you can homebrew and actually save money.  The 16oz GT's Kombucha bottles cost $3.50 each.  The gear you need to make your own costs ~$30.  It could be more or less depending on whether or not you make your own SCOBY.  But homebrewing it a gallon at a time will pay for itself in 2-3 brews regardless of that.  

Before I got started I wanted to figure out what I would like mine to taste like so I bought a few to taste and see.  These are all GT's Kombucha: Original on the left(just tea, sugar and microbes, no fruit or flavor), Gingerade in the midde(just kombucha and ginger), and on the right is Citrus(just kombucha and lemon juice).  I bought these at jewel, they had more flavors, these ones simply appealed to me the most.  I enjoyed the original one the most as it was definitely the sweetest and smoothest. The ginger and lemon ones I thought were a little too harsh and lost the tea flavor all together.  I think I would enjoy them more if there weren't as much ginger or lemon.  Maybe as nuanced flavors instead of these big flavors that conceal the original taste.  I'll definitely experiment with different teas and flavors in my own brewing.  

Cheers!
Mickey

Get Up and Go! A blend I made for Matt.

I said in an earlier post that I have nothing against tea that isn't "tea" or tea blended with things other than tea.  Although I rarely drink blended tea myself that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it once in a while!  This is the first time I blended some tea to package up.  Usually if I do I stick whatever it is in the pot with the tea right before brewing.  This time I had to make sure everything was completely dry and evenly mixed.  

I named the blend "Get Up and Go!" as it consists of yerba mate, which contains much more caffeine and theobromine than tea made from c. sinensis, ginseng oolong, known to be invigorating, homemade candied ginger, and dried orange peels.  I added little of the last two ingredients as I wanted their contribution to the flavor to be subtle compared to the yerba and ginseng, though I thought their flavor would pair nicely with the overarching character of the blend.  

Japanese black tea.

My friend Chase recently gave me some Japanese grown black tea.  This was my first time trying it and I was very excited because of how much I enjoy other Japanese teas.  

Here is the Japanese black tea(right), next to some broken leaf Assam(left).  

The leaves are similar in size and shape, however the Japanese tea lacks almost any scent at all.  If anything it smelled like dry ground.  

I used my kyusu because it's a Japan grown tea.

I expected to have an astringent vegetal black tea, that would share at least some qualities with sencha as this tea most likely comes from Yabukita (the cultivar or breed of tea tree that 80% of all Japanese tea comes from).  This tea met none of my expectations and left me at a loss for why it tasted the way it did.  

It wasn't malty like an Assam is or vegaetal like sencha is.  The only word I can describe it with is earthy.  It was earthy to the point of shu puerh.  It had no fishy taste which was a plus, but it was earthy to the point of not being pleasurable to drink.  I will try more Japanese black teas in the future as this is probably an exception rather than a rule.  

Cheers!

Mickey