The Big Book of Kombucha: Brewing, Flavoring, and Enjoying the Health Benefits of Fermented Tea

Fabulous Book!!! Out of the 10-12 books that I've purchased in the last couple of years this is the BEST! The Big Book of Kombucha is beautiful in so many ways. The photography is simple, colorful, & shows you real examples. It draws you in with it's simplicity & teaches with the pictures. The watercolors are cheerful, again simple but attracts you to what it is highlighting. A perfect blend of subtle color & fun design, creating a bright & cheery book...helps you enjoy the learning. Each section gives you simple to understand instruction & fun tips & stories along the way. Plenty of information for the beginner for learning how to start with a gallon jar or work your way to a 2 1/2 - 5 gallon crock...or beyond. You can keep it simple & enjoy straight from the spigot or do second ferments with added ingredients like dried elderberry, ginger, chai spice, etc.to get added benefits & flavors...yummm...these are really great! I just tried each one of these in different bottles & can't express how good they came out. [...] The recipe section is varied so there will be something for everyone & more uses that I could have imagined. Now, this may not be a big deal to some people but, I love the paper the publisher used in this book. The pages have a nice thickness & it's not that dry rough stuff that most of my other books came with. Plus, you can actually read the print without getting eye strain. The type is dark & varied in sizing so it's easy to follow & see highlights or notes. For me this is one of the most fun books I've ever owned & am really enjoying learning lots of new information on my journey with Kombucha. Good for you & a lot less expensive when you make your own. Great job to all those who put this book together...from a very happy customer.

I was a bit scared to start my whole kombucha journey - fear of being poisoned, have bottles explode in my face, have the bacteria SCOBY escape its jar and come for me in the night!!! I bought this book, and checked out her website….you will have more information than you knew you needed - it has history of kombucha, health benefits, what you need, tons of photos of what it should look like, or shouldn’t!!! Plus the how to, and enough recipes to last a few years…. Really felt confident after reading this book, still have lots to go…. The following is my home kombucha journey, that I have posted on the other products I bought related to this one… I’m going to post this review on the gallon jar and book products, since it was this starter kit, gallon jar/heater, and book combo that has set me on my kombucha home brew journey…. I bought the starter kit last month, plus The Big Book of Kombucha and was reading it, talked to friends who’d brewed their own kombucha in the past; they all recommended a glass jar with spigot to do continuous brew rather than mess about with the SCOBY, risk it getting contaminated, and make everything simpler. I bought one from Home Goods, but as I kept reading, I realized the cute crystal glass and plastic spigot would not be good… Went back to the drawing board, researched on Amazon and found a great kombucha gallon jar, with stainless steel spigot, and bought their heater, kombucha likes 78 degrees…and ferments faster… A week ago, I followed a hybrid of directions from my book, the starter kit, and jar people….and created my first go, this starter kit is great, has everything you need, the tea is a mix of organic green and black tea, I’m ordering more today, cane sugar, vinegary smelling starter kit and healthy looking thin layers of cream and tan SCOBY, cane sugar, PH strips - I’m going to use their gallon jar to experiment once my SCOBY needs to be cut smaller… Once I’d mixed everything in my jar, my PH was 2.5 = perfect….added the stick on temp gauge, and my heater, and it’s cook little hat… I had placed the gallon jar on a small towel so I could drag it forward, rather than lifting it….i talked to my dear little Scooby Doo, it is a living organism, every time I was in the kitchen, kept temp at 78-80 degrees, a new white seal grew on top, and stringing strands grew down, all by the book…. I sampled it today, it was sweet, but a little tart, and decanted half off into an old big 48 oz kombucha bottle, and added fresh ginger, hibiscus, and lemon juice- I will burp it every day for 3-4 days, and when the bubbles, flavor is to my liking, I’ll strain it into small bottles and put them in the fridge. My research says let the SCOBY sit in more concentrated mixture for a few days before adding more sweet tea and starting the process all over again… So far, it has been fun, and I look forward to drinking the real flavored stuff in a few days…

A friend handed me a slimy, stringy scoby jellyfish in a jar, and a copy of someone's typed instructions that looked like it had been xeroxed a thousand times. "Just feed it tea." Just feed it tea...could it be that easy? I'd enjoyed the occasional, expensive, bottle of commercial kombucha, never thinking that it was possible to brew it myself at home. It was pretty easy, but I found myself wanting to understand much more about the process and the beverage itself. I looked around and found Hannah and Alex's Big Book of Kombucha. This is a beautifully illustrated comprehensive guide for all things kombucha! I read it cover to cover over a period of a few days and refer to it every time I brew and bottle. Not only do you get the basics on how to feed your scoby tea, you get the history, the biochemistry, the health benefits, the peer reviewed article references, recipes for fruity/savory/herbal booch flavors galore, scoby maintanence tips, scoby beauty and food recipes, troubleshooting, experimentation ideas, and all the support you could ever need for embarking on this brewing adventure in a reader-friendly format illustrated with gorgeous water colors and full color photographs. Booch has been a revelation for us. We had always loved other ferments, like kimchi, but the relationship with kombucha is something special. Not only do we feel a general sense of well-being from drinking booch daily, we have had some resolution of sinus and GERD symptoms, a decrease in cravings for sweet and/or processed food, the desire to eat fresher and healthier, increased energy, and the basic enjoyment of drinking something that we know is good for us that also tastes so freaking good! If you are interested in learning more about nurturing your symbiotic "bacteriosapien" existence, kombucha is a great place to start. This book has everything for both the beginner and the experienced brewer. Also, Kombucha Kamp, the authors' website is a wonderful resource for scobys, supplies, and one on one support. Join the fermentation nation!

Ok, so I haven't read any other books on the subject. I researched kombucha books and read dozens of reviews on several of them prior to ordering this one. The Big Book of Kombucha far exceeded my expectations. I had never brewed kombucha and I was a little nervous about it. I had googled it and it seemed both simple and complicated to me -- depending on the source. This book is perfect for the first timer. It answered all my questions. The author included pictures of the SCOBY in every stage of the process which took a lot of the guess work and worry out of it. Without that visual, I might have assumed my brew was ruined at certain points. The book is visually beautiful and enjoyable to read. You can use it as a reference book or you can read the whole thing. She includes information about the history of kombucha as well as advice about which ingredients work best, step by step instructions, troubleshooting, all kinds of recipes, how to care for your SCOBY and more. My first batch turned out better than I expected. It wasn't GTs quality but it was still delicious. I would like mine to be a little stronger and would like a little more fizz. I think I will be able to tweak these issues though. I was concerned about my bottles exploding during the second ferment (this can sometimes happen), so I kept burping the bottles and probably killed the fizz. I have my second batch about ready to bottle. I won't burp them as much this time. On a side note: I ordered my SCOBY and a few other items directly from Kombucha Kamp (the author's website). I've ordered 3 times and each time I received shipment notifications within HOURS of placing my orders and my orders arrived within a couple of days. The SCOBY was big, beautiful and healthy and the ingredients I ordered were top quality. I love everything about this company.

I enjoyed every page! So well done, pretty, sense of humor, ease of reading. Worth every penny! I bought two… one for a friend.

I think this book was miss-named. It should be called the Bible of Kombucha since this is the book you return to again and again as you continue your Kombucha adventure. Every page is a revelation. I've been brewing this stuff on and off for many years. Why not consistently? Well, I don't know, perhaps I was not really aware of the all the benefits of the stuff and you hear so many conflicting stories. I mean is this stuff really good for you and all of that? Well, these guys have done the research and they take away the mystery about kombucha and you learn some really wondrous stuff about this delicious, healthful brew. So now I am really excited about brewing on a regular basis. I even ordered one of their SCOBYs because I am confident in the quality from these master brewers. For years I've been preparing this brew a certain way: boiling a gallon of water, boiling in the sugar then putting in the tea bags to let it steep for 15 minutes and then setting the pot on the counter for hours to let it cool so you can put it in a gallon jar into which you put your SCOBY. Every time I've ordered a SCOBY from somewhere else these are the instructions. Well, these guys simplify it. Just boil a quart of water, steep the tea, stir in the sugar and then pour that into the gallon jug and fill it will cool water. All this can be done in a matter of minutes, instead a waiting around for hours for the mixture to cool off. Makes preparation a heck of a lot easier. I also learned that you are not supposed to refrigerate your SCOBYs, that it's best to keep them in a "SCOBY hotel" so the cultures stay active and vibrant. I've been refrigerating them which is probably why I've had so much trouble with my brews. But the best part of the book which is where they spend the most time on is flavoring your batch, and that can be done in the original fermentation and/or afterwards. So they give all kind of wonderful ideas for this. I got a batch going right now with hibiscus, never thought about doing that. They got recipes for desserts, smoothies and alcoholic drinks made with the kombucha which look really delicious. They even got a recipe for making kombucha brewed with coffee! Can't wait to try that and can't even imagine what the heck it's going to taste like. My mom, who is 102, lives with me and I’ve been giving her apple cider vinegar in the mornings and just switched her to kombucha. I am going to have to have 2 batches going now and can’t wait to try the flavorings on her. So if you are just starting your kombucha journey or are an old pro don't hesitate to get this beautiful book. Brewing kombucha is a great, fun, healthy and life-giving hobby. The stuff you'll brew will be so much better than what you can get in the store because it is raw and full of healthy bacteria that your body really needs. This is the book you need for all things kombucha. Get it, you will not regret it.

Great Bible-of-kombucha! Everything you need to know to get started & a reference for all time! Have not used all the recipes (had a copy from the library before purchasing here) used maybe 4 recipes & either too sweet or just did not appeal (2 were too high alcohol)... So the method & reasons (in this book are Great)! But for myself I Prefer Wellness Momma (recipes) over all~because she does not (make anything or share anything) her kids will not actually eat. So I do not waste my time w/un proven recipes (on the family) will Update later if need too as-i intend to use this book and Will be Using more recipes as well!!!! Much too learn! A Assest to your knowledgr base. Get It. You wont be sorry

The Big Book of Kombucha is an amazing resource for kombucha brewing. Its 383 pages full of all the information you would need to brew you own kombucha. It goes over equipment and supplies, methods, flavors and even has some recipes that make use of kombucha as an ingredient. The book has helpful pictures showing key aspects of kombucha brewing, such as a gallery of growth of your SCOBY over time, and a gallery of mold, etc. The formatting is great and everything is laid out so that the process is easy to understand. It's definitely another must have book from Storey publishing.

il libro si presenta pieno di dettagli e di idee. loro di Kombucha Kamp sono fenomenali e li adoro. chiaramente è un libro per chi è veramente appassionato di kombucha e vuole capire meglio come sfruttare le qualità dello scoby.

Me regalaron un scoby de kombucha y no sabía muy bien por donde empezar. Me encanta la kombucha pero ya no quería pagar tanto si la podría hacer en casa. El libro está muy completo y tiene muchas fotos que te ayudan a entender los procesos. Además viene con muchísimas recetas para darle sabor a tu bebida. Súper recomendable

Please don't buy this at least kindle version doesn't worth the money spent, tons and tons of information available with better ideas and information on the Internet purely waste of money, have patience and look for the kombucha information in the net you will definitely get lots of ideas

Excellent book with great explanations and amazing pictures. Tons of recipes and much appreciated smooth high quality pages.

I've been making and drinking kombucha on and off for around 10 years. I've collected anything I can find on the subject, so have read a number of books to become better informed about what 'booch' offers. I heard about this book when it first came out and thought I wouldn't need anything it could add. Then I read some reviews from others and thought I'd look for myself. How pleased I am that I got a copy! Yes, it covers much that I already knew, but adds a huge amount of info from someone who is clearly seriously enthusiastic about her subject, and knowledgeable to boot! Hannah Crum already has a great website offering help both to novices (where we all start) and more experienced brewers alike. This is one for those who like to sit at the kitchen table and read from a book rather than a screen (I think there are lots of us still around), who want to learn and be entertained - she's a great ambassador for her passion and writes engagingly all around the subject of this weird little 'fungus' that inspires such loyalty! I have yet to try some of her suggestions for cocktails with it, nor have I made anything to carry out of dried scoby - but I love the idea! I bought a second copy for my daughter (also a brewer) as I didn't want mine out of my reach.