The Grape Equalizer and a Kombucha Kegger
Posted: April 5, 2011 Filed under: Finger Foods | Tags: kombucha, local food, NYC Leave a comment »
{photos courtesy of KKBK’s facebook album}
I think I’ve stated my Kombucha Brooklyn loyalties pretty firmly already, especially after they provided Noah and I the resources to begin our own home brew, but I can’t help but write about some of their delicious upcoming flavors! Among them is the facetiously named “Grape Equalizer.” KBBK debuted their new flavor at a “Kombucha Kegger” about a week back at the wonderful Local 61 in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. The party touted unlimited ‘buch on tap, including the Spring flavors watermelon-lime, lemon drop, cranberry, and, of course, the grape equalizer. My favorite was the watermelon-lime, which had *gasp* a real watermelon flavor as opposed to the uber-sugary watermelon flavor of say watermelon Jolly Rancher (admittedly still delicious, but not as exciting as true summery watermelon).
Local 61 is a rad place. The bar/pub features local beers (including my favorite local brewers, Sixpoint!), Brooklyn cheese, and of course ‘buch. It was the perfect setting for KBBK’s kegger.
Aside from unlimited ‘buch and good company, the kegger also featured samples of local purveyors Steve’s Ice Cream’s kombucha sorbets: Urban Passion and Red Ginger. The collaboration between Steve’s Ice Cream (more on them later this week!) and KBBK is the perfect marriage of local treats; the sorbets magically have that fizzy ‘buch bite.
Baby Buch Brew Day 30: The Bottle Neck
Posted: March 10, 2011 Filed under: Finger Foods, Recipes | Tags: ethical eats, kombucha, local food, NYC, recipe, self-sufficiency, urban agriculture, WTF 1 Comment »
It’s day 30 of our buch brew which means that it’s time to give our brew some new homes. Paula, our now fully grown scoby, looks thick and yeasty and all around pretty frightening, which in the kombucha world is actually a great thing. We gave our brew a quick taste and it was still pretty sweet, but had that strong kombucha bite that we love.
Noah cut our scoby into three pieces and placed each one into a jar with about a cup of our kombucha. We’re planning on keeping one as a starter for our next batch, BUT that means that we have two scoby mothers up for grabs! If anyone in NYC is interested in starting their own brew we’d love to donate one of our mothers. Just send me an email at saf366 [at] gmail [dot] com!
We bottled our kombucha into 6 pint-sized mason jars. Following the Kombucha Brooklyn buch brewing tip sheet, we’re leaving our jars on the counter-top for 3-7 days to allow them to carbonate before putting them in the fridge. So we still have another few days before we can completely reap the fruits of our labor. Noah and I wanted to flavor our brew with some fresh mango puree, but after cutting through our mango it appeared to have rotted (we seriously can’t keep anything in out kitchen beyond 3 days!). So for now, our buch will remain unflavored, but we have big plans for our second batch which we’ll begin brewing tonight. We’ve already settled on a name for our next brew: Scoby Bryant.
Baby Buch Brew Day 8: The baby scoby lives!
Posted: February 23, 2011 Filed under: Finger Foods, Recipes | Tags: ethical eats, food culture, industrial food system, kombucha, local food, NYC, self-sufficiency 1 Comment »
Our kombucha mother-scoby has finally given birth to our new baby scoby! There is a thin, bubbly film growing at the top of our Paula. Normally, one would be advised against eating anything of this nature: (note the particularly dark, moldy spot) but this is kombucha, and its fermented goodness is well on its way to my tummy.
Baby Buch Brew Day 4: A little adjustment
Posted: February 18, 2011 Filed under: Finger Foods, Recipes | Tags: food culture, kombucha, local food, NYC, recipe, self-sufficiency Leave a comment »
It’s day 4 of the buch brew. There isn’t much to report, the mother Scoby has sunk to the bottom and we decided to move our brew to our pantry cupbaord in the kitchen where it wouldn’t be exposed to our incense burning and the occasional open window. I also received a little tip from ‘Buchwoman Jessica Childs. It looks like we filled our buch baby fermenting jar up a little too high. Here is Jessica’s diagnosis:
“Just a little tip to ensure you get off on the right foot : You want the level of the liquid in your brew jar to be just under where the “shoulder” of the jar starts to taper in, thus ensuring maximum surface area. It looks like you may be a little above this. It won’t cause any harm, but the brew will be more robust with more surface area! You can either gently pour off some of the liquid, or dip in there with a clean tea cup or ladle to pull that level down a bit. Then you will be golden!“
Thanks Jess! Noah and I adjusted the tea level accordingly with a clean ladle. We also gave the buch a sip and it tasted like…tea. Well, tea with the teeniest, tiniest hint of that fermented bite.
I made a deal with Noah, as he isn’t the most enthusiastic supporter of my blogging-induced cheesiness, that I would be allowed to take full creative license in blogging about our kombucha brew if he could name our buch baby. Naturally, Noah googled “ugly girl names” and came up with this classic: Paula.* So there you have it, our baby buch is named Paula.
*I do not think Paula is an ugly name at all. 
Baby Buch Brew Day 1: the initial ferment
Posted: February 15, 2011 Filed under: Finger Foods, Recipes | Tags: industrial food system, kombucha, NYC, recipe, self-sufficiency 2 Comments »I’ve finally caved and given in to my kombucha calling. I’d been buying Kombucha Brooklyn’s delicious bottles in bulk for a few weeks now, but quickly realized that I couldn’t feed my daily kombucha cravings on my meager student budget. So on Thursday, after consulting with my assets manager (i.e. my computer/online bank account), I decided to take the plunge and invest in home brewing.
4 days and $43 dollars later I have my very own Kombucha Brooklyn home-brew kit! I can’t even describe my excitement at discovering the package at my door on my way out to a TEDxManhattan “Changing the Way We Eat” viewing party on Saturday. Actually, maybe this picture will suffice:
So why home brew? Aside from providing me with a constant supply of the delicious and happiness-inducing beverage, home-brewing kombucha feeds into my desire to step outside of the industrial food system and just freakin’ make something from scratch. Kombucha also promotes a healthy digestion and well-being with all those live cultures/probiotics, B vitamins, and amino acids. Now who wouldn’t want that?!
The kit comes with everything you need to brew with the exception of the water and the pot (of course). On top of providing potential buch brewers with all their organic brewing needs, Kombucha Brooklyn are even mindful of their shipping practices: the packing ‘peanuts’ are biodegradable!
My home brew kit contents:
-USDA Certified 1 Gallon glass jar
-100% Organic cotton cover
-Rubber band
-1 Brews worth of KBBK’s hand-selected blend of fair trade, organic teas
-Brews worth of organic, fair trade cane sugar
-Very detailed instructions
-KBBK pristinely propagated Scoby in glass jar w/starter
Noah and I began our buch brew yesterday (I’ll refrain from making an inappropriate “conception/Valentine’s Day” joke, but know that I had one in mind). We started by brewing the organic black tea in 1/4 gallon boiling spring water.
After brewing the tea for 20 minutes, we added the organic cane sugar.
We added another 1/2 gallon of the room temperature spring water and then allowed the tea to cool until it was below 95 degrees (we didn’t want to kill our mother Scoby!). Then we ladled the tea into the fermentation jar.
We filled the jar up just below the neck and then added the Scoby and kombucha starter. (Mmm appetizing!)
We covered the jar with the cotton cloth and sealed it with a rubber band.
Me and the baby buch!
Finally, we found a dark, warm spot for our baby buch to brew; naturally, we placed it in the bedroom.
KBBK suggests checking on the brew every day: tasting and marking the progress of the new, baby Scoby. I can’t wait to get home from work and say hello to the little guy! Check back for updates on the baby buch brew! Official baby names to follow…
