How do you choose which teas to use for kombucha?

That’s a great question, because we learned early on that not all “teas” make good kombucha!  Actually, it is only tea (Camellia sinensis for all you botanists out there) that can be used to make kombucha. Many of the plants that are used to make “tea” (like mint, chamomile, dandelion, chai, etc.) are actually tisanes, which are herbal blends from plants other than Camellia sinensis. However, tisanes don’t have the right blend of nitrates and nutrients to sustain the culture that is central to kombucha. True teas are able to sustain the culture and make great, consistent kombucha.

So, back to the question: which teas do we choose?   We chose teas based on their flavor profiles: a black tea (Ceylon), a green tea (a proprietary blend of Jasmine and Sencha Saga), and Rooibos.  The Ceylon is more full-bodied, so it plays well with the richer flavor profiles, like stone fruits, and kitchen and baking spices (like Spiced Pear or Mulled Apple Cider). The Jasmine is a sweeter floral green tea, so we blend it with the Sencha Saga, which is more grassy and herbaceous, for a balanced green tea base for fruit, floral, and vegetal flavor combinations (everything from our summer berry brews to the Hibiscus Rose to the earthy Beet Carrot Ginger).  Lastly, we selected the Rooibos primarily because it’s caffeine free, but also because of its unique flavor profile.  Rooibos is also interesting because, despite everything we said above, Rooibos isn’t technically tea, and yet it manages to have the particular blend of nutrients that can sustain a kombucha culture.  And if you want to hear more about that, you can come have a cup of tea with me and we can nerd out!  Or we can just have a cup of tea.