We celebrate the birth of "Queenoscobie" Kombucha.
Here is the first Scobie scavenged from a bottle of unnamed commercial Kombucha.
We realize that Kombucha goes back many years and is not a new product, but Queenoscobie Kombucha was just born on this day, July 4, 2014, when your old friend Queenosabe and her old friend Loubee1 decided to take Loubee1's fledgling Kombucha Kitchen to a new level.
What is this new level?
We haven't quite figured that out yet.
It isn't for profit; it isn't for charity, but as near as we can figure it out at this time it is for FUN.
Our Kombucha Story
by RTH and NLK Brown
© 2014 by N.L.K. Brown
In 2010 we visited our son Evans in Los Angeles. He and his friend Won, pronounced Juan like the Hispanic name, had been brewing up Kombucha. We had never heard of Kombucha back home in Indiana and Nan Lou, aka as Loubee1, developed a taste for it. Evans told us all we had to do was buy a commercial Scobie, sometimes spelled Scoby or Scobey, and we’d be in the Kombucha brewing business. That’s not a business as like in a commercial endeavor, but more like a DIY project or hobby. Of course you could buy it in some stores for four or five dollars a bottle. We decided to attempt to make our own when we got home.
Well it wasn’t until the spring of 2014 that just buy chance we bought several almost four dollar bottles from a local health food store and found the thing called a Scobie starting in the top of a bottle. Nan Lou carefully fished them out. They were about the size of half dollar and joined at the hip, so to speak. NL was hot to enter the Kombucha brewing brethren and she did a little research and found several recipes and put her salvaged Scobie to work in a wide mouth gallon jar found at the Container Store.
by RTH and NLK Brown
© 2014 by N.L.K. Brown
In 2010 we visited our son Evans in Los Angeles. He and his friend Won, pronounced Juan like the Hispanic name, had been brewing up Kombucha. We had never heard of Kombucha back home in Indiana and Nan Lou, aka as Loubee1, developed a taste for it. Evans told us all we had to do was buy a commercial Scobie, sometimes spelled Scoby or Scobey, and we’d be in the Kombucha brewing business. That’s not a business as like in a commercial endeavor, but more like a DIY project or hobby. Of course you could buy it in some stores for four or five dollars a bottle. We decided to attempt to make our own when we got home.
Well it wasn’t until the spring of 2014 that just buy chance we bought several almost four dollar bottles from a local health food store and found the thing called a Scobie starting in the top of a bottle. Nan Lou carefully fished them out. They were about the size of half dollar and joined at the hip, so to speak. NL was hot to enter the Kombucha brewing brethren and she did a little research and found several recipes and put her salvaged Scobie to work in a wide mouth gallon jar found at the Container Store.
t was a week before it appeared to be done and we gingerly tasted it. Voila, it was a good gallon batch of Kombucha. We scrounged up some glass bottles and ended up with five bottles of the brew which we called number 0 (zero) and enough dregs, as I ignorantly called the remaining liquid in the gallon brewing jar, for a couple of new brews. Some would refer to it as, “bottoms settling”. I like dregs. Of course the Kombucha brewing fraternity calls it a Mother.
A new Scobie had started up in our brewing jar and with the original one we now had two for future Kombucha production. These were put into small jars with some of the dregs (Mother) to grow and be ready to make another batch of Kombucha. We call these small jars a Scobie residence.
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The basic black tea. A ready to go to work Scobie. A completed Konbucha brew.
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A week or so later another brewing was started. After its week of brewing it was bottled and another Scobie had formed. The original Scobie was still active and attached to the newly formed one. But, this brew was a little on the bitter or sour side and we used it to liven up any weaker brews. This was christened number 1. The next was number 2 and was the weaker tasting brew we had anticipated. It was brought up to Kombucha standards with the addition of some of number 1. By now we were starting to have more Scobies than we had residences. One was sent to Evans in LA, the original had been absorbed by a new and bigger Scobie, and we scrounged up an old peanut butter glass jar which had held screws in my workshop. Yes, yes, yes, it was washed and sterilized as all our residences and brewing jars are. 
By now we had enough Scobies to start two brews at the same time. That meant a trip to Wally’s for another gallon brewing jar that was exactly like our original jar from the Container Store, only several dollars less.
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We started brews 3 and 4. One seemed to have a lazy Scobie and after a day or two NL added a second Scobie to the jar. It started working right away and even shamed the first one in the jar to get its Scobie rear in gear. These two brews were allowed to go an additional day or two and they ended up being the best of our Kombucha production.
By now we have had to move several Scobies into one residence jar which is called a Scobie hotel.
Never having the exact same taste might be discouraging to some, but we find it a little exciting not knowing whether a brew will be weak, strong, or just right to our taste buds.
By now we have had to move several Scobies into one residence jar which is called a Scobie hotel.
Never having the exact same taste might be discouraging to some, but we find it a little exciting not knowing whether a brew will be weak, strong, or just right to our taste buds.
