Can I use a bottle of raw Kombuka tea to grow a new SCOBY?
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Hi there -
The general consensus is yes you can, though it may take a while to do. I would start by leaving your bottle of raw kombucha out on the counter for a few days, and watch for a baby SCOBY to form in the bottle. This might not happen quickly. When it does, or if you want to try to speed things up, brew a small amount of sweet black tea (maybe two cups or so?), let it cool, then add your kombucha bottle to that in a clean glass container. Cover it with a paper towel or cheese clothe and sit it on the counter. The sugar and tea will provide any culture strands/babies in your bottle with new food, so that should help accelerate the process. Once a SCOBY has formed in your new dish, brew some fresh sweet black tea and transfer your SCOBY there, with a bit of sour kombucha to help get it going and deter mold growth. A couple more rounds like that and you should have a functioning SCOBY!
There is a Kombucha group on Yahoo - it's a great place to hear from folks all over the world who are making Kombucha. Lots of questions and answers to learn from.
Good luck!
True Kombucha is a live culture. If it has been processed and bottled, chances are it isn't live anymore. But, you can certainly try - worst case scenario, you'll be out a batch of tea and some sugar.
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