Yes, you can ferment tea. It is apparently quite popular among health-food types. It is called kombucha. I’m not a health-food type nor would I recommend brewing this drink because of it’s dubious health benefits. I recommend brewing it because it is cheap (my first gallon totaled around 12 dollars), fun, and a good first step into the world of homebrewing. I got into homebrewing by homebrewing beer but I like brewing all kinds of things; basically if it involves yeast I will probably give it a shot (sourdough, beer, kombucha, you name it). Kombucha (unlike beer), only requires black tea (unflavored), sugar, distilled water, a gallon glass container to hold it, and “dish soap sanitation”. It also requires one other ingredient . . .  the mother. The mother is the term used to describe a white, gelled mass that forms on top of the tea and turns it into kombucha. Most places on the web recommend buying one or getting it from a friend but I didn’t know anyone who had one and I wasn’t real enthusiastic about buying one. Luckily I found a video here. I actually felt stupid it didn’t occur to me since this is the same idea as culturing your own yeast for homebrewing beer. But I digress . . . I thought today I’d give a brief tutorial on how to brew kombucha for under twelve dollars.

Bill of Materials:

-  1 gallon Jar (I bought a pickle jar and ate all the pickles) [Aprox. $5]
- 6 packets of plain Black tea (don’t substitute other teas) [Aprox. $2]
- 1 gallon of distilled water [Aprox. $1]
- 1 small kombucha beverage from your favorite hippie coffee shop [Aprox. $4]
- 1 cup of sugar (preferably white cane sugar) [free from neighbor]
-1 stirring stick
- 1 pot w/heat source
-  1 thermometer

Step 1:
In homebrewing sanitation is essential to a good brew. Since we are only making kombucha our sanitation doesn’t need to be as strict as in homebrewing beer, but it is still important. Wash everything that will come in contact with the brew (i.e. your hands, and gallon jar) with soap and water (you don’t really have to do this to the stirring stick or the pot as they will soon have boiling water in them).

Step 2:
Add roughly half of the gallon of distilled water to the pot and bring to a boil.

Step 3:
Pour in 1 cup of sugar, slowly stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Step 4:
Remove from heat and add the tea bags. You can leave them in as long as you would like (check here for recommended steeping times if you prefer).

Step 5:
Add the other half gallon of distilled water then check the temperature. if the water is above 95 degrees (F) let the mixture cool down to around 75-80 degrees (F). If the mix is above 100 degrees (F) and you add the kombucha you bought, you will kill your yeast friends and it will be all over (until you go back to the hippie coffee shop).

Step 6:
After making sure the proper temperature has been reached pour in the contents of the kombucha beverage you got at the hippie coffee shop.
Warning! If you pour hot water in the wrong kind of glass it can crack and break. Canning jars are made of the right kind of glass, store bought pickle jars probably aren’t. So make sure the water is below 80 degrees (F) before putting in the jar.

Step 7:
All you have to do now is cover the jar with a light cloth (I just used paper towel) and place in a warm room, out of direct sunlight. The brew will take between 1 and three weeks to brew. I let mine go about 2 weeks, or when the brew starts to smell vinegary. After the first week a thin film should begin to form on top of the brew. This is your “mother” and will be needed to brew future batches so don’t get rid of it! It may look gross but it is perfectly safe (as long as you don’t let it mold, which is not very likely given the acidity of it). If you wait much longer then two weeks the PH will fall below 2 and not really be much good for drinking; it could be used like vinegar though. If you have any questions or comments feel free to post.