⏳ Yield & Time

Yield: 1 quart servings

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Total Time: 2880 minutes

🍽 Ingredients

• 4-6 Black or Green Tea Bags
• 1 quart Water
• 1/2 cup Sugar (or honey/maple syrup)
• 1 SCOBY
• 1 cup Starter Kombucha
• 2 Blood Oranges
• A dash Lemon or Lime Juice

📖 Instructions

1. First, prepare your tea. Use high-quality water and steep 4-6 tea bags of your choice in 1 quart of almost boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Remove the tea bags and let the tea cool completely. Don't skip this step; hot tea will kill the beneficial bacteria.
2. Next, prepare your SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). If you're a kombucha newbie, you'll need to source this from a friend or a reputable online seller. Treat your SCOBY like gold—it's the magic behind the fermentation process.
3. In a clean glass jar, combine your cooled tea with 1/2 cup of sugar (or honey/maple syrup to taste) and stir until dissolved. Let it cool completely again.
4. Once your tea mixture is at room temperature, gently add your SCOBY and 1 cup of already-fermented kombucha (this is your starter kombucha, essentially giving the new batch a head-start). This helps maintain the right pH balance and flavor profile.
5. Cover the jar with a cheesecloth secured with a rubber band. This allows air to circulate while keeping dust and bugs out. Place the jar in a dark area of your kitchen, at room temperature, for 7-14 days. Taste-test your kombucha daily after the first few days to monitor the fermentation. The longer you wait, the tarter it'll become. I usually wait about 10 days.
6. When the fermentation is complete (you decide based on your taste), carefully remove the SCOBY. You can reuse this SCOBY to make your next batch! This is where the fun begins.
7. For the Blood Orange Sunrise, carefully slice 2 blood oranges. (Make sure they're washed properly). Add the slices to a bottle. Remember to save some slices to garnish.
8. Strain the fermented kombucha through a cheesecloth or fine-mesh strainer into a clean bottle or container. If you see any sediment, that's normal! Kombucha often has a bit of cloudy stuff.
9. Add a dash of lemon or lime juice. Just a squeeze is all you need here. I love the extra tang.
10. Pour the strained kombucha over the blood orange slices in your chosen bottle. It's absolutely important to make sure your bottles are clean to avoid mold or other contamination problems.
11. Seal the bottle tightly and gently shake. (Don't shake too hard, or you may risk a kombucha explosion later!)
12. Let it sit for another 1-3 days in a cool, dark place for a second fermentation. This process will carbonate the drink, giving it its signature fizz. This is my fave part, the anticipation of a wonderfully fermented drink!
13. Once the second fermentation is complete, refrigerate your Blood Orange Kombucha Sunrise. Enjoy it chilled, ideally within 2-3 weeks of bottling.
14. Garnish and serve! Pour your delicious kombucha into a glass, and add some blood orange slices as a garnish for some serious presentation skills. Cheers! The hardest part of this whole process is waiting for it to ferment properly! It is worth it though! I promise you!

📝 Notes

• Make sure all equipment is sterilized before use. If you don’t, you may get mold, bacteria, or some other unsavory things in your kombucha.
• Adjust fermentation times depending on your preferred level of tartness and fizziness. It’s a whole process.
• Always taste test before consuming, just in case. Don't wanna get sick, right?