Recently, we’ve been getting more and more questions on testing the pH of kombucha tea. We’ll be the first to admit this is a topic we aren’t very familiar with, but we are definitely intrigued. We’ve discovered that kombucha has become a very popular drink in the U.S., and we knew we needed to learn more about it.

Cultures for Health

The experts at Cultures for Health have been a huge help to us in the past in answering kombucha questions, so when an article about kombucha landed on the calendar, we knew who we needed to contact.

Cultures for Health began in the home of Julie and Eric Feickert after attending a sustainable living workshop that led to the beginning of their Real Food journey. They have successfully created a website where people making a food change in their own lives can find all the products and information they need to be successful.

Cultures for Health sources and produces products locally when possible while providing excellent product selection, top-notch articles and how-to videos, and excellent customer service. They are great people to work with, and we want to give a special thanks to Suzanne Jones for providing us with all the valuable information below.

Kombucha Tea

Kombucha tea is a fermented drink ranging in flavor from mild to slightly sour to very vinegary, but has a rich, earthy aroma and taste that has become wildly popular in the U.S. over the past few years. Kombucha is often effervescent and can be flavored with a variety of fruit and herb combinations, making it a great soda replacer.

Today, commercial brewers abound, stocking entire grocery store cases and filling vending machines. In some regions of the country, small brewers and cafés make their own kombucha to serve or sell to customers. There are even growler-filling stations, where customers can fill jugs with their favorite local brew on tap.

While having such a selection is fun and convenient, such convenience does come at a price. Kombucha by the bottle can be an expensive habit to maintain, so many people turn to brewing kombucha at home. Home-brewing kombucha is surprisingly easy. The required ingredients can be as simple as black tea, white sugar, water, and a scoby.

kombucha tea, healthy scoby, pH2844, pH 2.8-4.4, wine pH test strips, pH test strips

Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria & Yeast (SCOBY)

Scoby stands for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast, meaning the bacteria and yeast work together in a mutually supportive community. A kombucha scoby is also known as a mother or mushroom, as it does appear similar to a mushroom cap, smooth and off-white in color. Its shape is defined by the shape of the container in which it is grown. A kombucha scoby can be obtained from a friend, grown from a bottle of raw kombucha, or purchased from a reputable source.

To make kombucha at home, a scoby is added to a batch of sweet tea, cooled to room temperature. Some kombucha from a previous batch is added as a starter as well. If there is no kombucha on hand, white vinegar may be used instead for the initial batch. The mixture is then left at room temperature to ferment for 7-30 days. A longer fermenting time yields a stronger-flavored, more acidic kombucha.

Kombucha Tea, scoby, healthy scoby

Kombucha Tea pH

While the best way to tell how a batch is fermenting is to test aroma and flavor, there are other indicators as well. Measuring pH, an indicator of acidity level, is a good way to monitor progress of your fermenting kombucha tea. At the beginning of the fermentation period, the pH can be 4.0 or more. As fermentation proceeds, the pH will decrease, indicating an increase in acidity.

Most people enjoy kombucha at a pH of around 3.5-3.0, when it has a mild vinegar flavor. While there is no real danger in consuming kombucha with a higher pH, the flavor will not be as well-developed, meaning the kombucha simply will not be as tasty. Continuing the fermentation will allow the pH to decrease further and the flavor to develop into something more enjoyable.

When the pH sinks lower than 3.0, the kombucha has a strong flavor, like vinegar. Again, the lower pH is not dangerous for consumption; it simply is not a flavor most people would enjoy. For a batch of kombucha that has fermented too long and is too strong in flavor, simply save it to use as starter tea for a new batch or use it in place of vinegar in dressings or other recipes.

While fermenting at home can be a scary new endeavor, it is really quite simple and has been done for thousands of years. Testing aroma, flavor, and pH can help guide the new fermenter and take some of the fear out of fermenting, making it fun and enjoyable instead!

For more information on making kombucha, to download a free kombucha eBook, or to purchase a kombucha starter kit, please visit us at www.culturesforhealth.com. You’ll also find other great resources on their website, including how-to videos, kombucha recipes, expert advice articles and more.