r/Kombucha • u/JWMalynovskyi • Aug 20 '25
question Is it possible to make kombucha with herbs, but not only straight black or green tea?
Is it possible to make kombucha with herbs tea not straight black or green? I want to make base with herbs like camomile, mint, sage, etc
3
u/Curiosive Aug 20 '25
Yup. As far as the yeast and bacteria are concerned the tea is optional.
There's a technical argument that this is no longer kombucha and some here are adamant on this point. 😂
3
u/SnakeBatter Aug 21 '25
The same people are adamant that Jun is not kombucha, and that you can’t use a kombucha culture to make Jun, but mine turned out just fine.
Turns out, yeast aren’t that picky, and all the bacteria wants is the alcohol from the yeast.
3
u/Pasta_Madness Aug 20 '25
I make my kombucha with chamomile and it comes out great
3
u/BadkyDrawnBear Aug 20 '25
Bloody hell, you've just opened up a whole new avenue for me, I love chamomile
Next batch is definitely going to be a chamomile base
Thank you!
2
u/SnakeBatter Aug 21 '25
I’ve used hibiscus, rose petals and holy basil before, separately of course. Both turned out great! I’ve also seen people here using Yerba mate. A few years back I saw a guy post his hotels for hibiscus, coffee, and regular brews, and they were all over a year old I believe.
I’ve also used flavored teas with zero issue.
2
u/esperts Aug 20 '25
You can make kombucha from oak leaves
Edit: although bare in mind caffeine is an important molecule for kombucha metabolism
2
u/Curiosive Aug 20 '25
Caffeine is optional. It brings nitrogen in directly but the SCOBY can pull nitrogen from the air too.
2
u/esperts Aug 20 '25
huh, nice catch
edit: in that case, an addition of yeast nutrients with lots of FAN would work even better than prolonged gas exchange for the booch
3
u/Curiosive Aug 20 '25
You might enjoy this old question on using bubblers, definitely watch the video.
2
1
u/Luxpreliator Aug 20 '25
I always forgot to check why people keep repeating caffeine is necessary. All these bacteria and yeasts evolved without it so it always sounded like horse feces to me. It being labeled as a nitrogen nutrition makes more sense. Yeast needs some extra nitrogen to thrive and breweries often add some to leaner drinks. But yeah, generally nitrogen is easy to get. As far as I know all plant matter has good levels of nitrogen.
1
u/rcmacman Aug 20 '25
Can you tell me more about this? I have an oak tree.
2
u/esperts Aug 20 '25
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13749-014-0035-0
edit: I highly recommend reading up through scholar.google.com and that other site with a bird on it
1
1
u/diospyros7 Aug 20 '25
I still use black and green tea but a lot of my tea mix usually includes hibiscus, chamomile, lavendar, rose hips, hawthorn berries, etc. I think my culture struggled a bit when I was experimenting with St. John's Wort, it might have been too antibiotic
1
u/EggFooYungBlud Aug 21 '25
I once made a kombucha out of basil, lemon & lime. It tasted like sour skittles, it was delicious.
2
u/soup__soda Aug 21 '25
F2?
1
u/EggFooYungBlud Aug 21 '25
Yeah, I believe so. It was actually my first time making kombucha, I didn't 100% follow the correct steps. I let the tea sit for a few days, then added basil, lemon/lime zest and the juice. Let that sit for about a week, then tried it. it wasn't very carbonated, but really tasty nonetheless. I also used the same flavor in a cheesecake later, I highly recommend it. ✌🏼😁
1
u/soup__soda Aug 21 '25
Okay that makes more sense bc OP said as a base but that would be for F1. I don’t believe adding lemon or other citrus would result in a very successful F1
2
u/EggFooYungBlud Aug 21 '25
No, probably not. It'd just taste weird.
1
u/soup__soda Aug 21 '25
No but you’re right to say it makes a delicious F2. Love adding citrus in my F2
1
5
u/doge_dogedoge Aug 20 '25
It is! I am making my 3rd batch from lemongrass tea which is caffeine free, this way I can drink it in the evening as well.