Hello my fermenting friends! While most of you have heard of kombucha, I bet only some of you have heard of Jun. Jun is similar to kombucha, but instead of using black tea and sugar it is brewed with green tea and honey. Sounds better, right? I have been brewing kombucha for years, but have only recently got into Jun, and I totally love it! It has a lighter and fresher taste in my opinion, and I like to think that it’s even healthier than kombucha. Here I will give you a step by step guide on how to brew Jun kombucha.
Just like many other ferments of this kind (kombucha, water kefir, and milk kefir, to name a few) you will first need to get your hands on a SCOBY for Jun. SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, and it is what turns the sweetened liquid into awesome probiotic goodness.
It’s definitely not the prettiest thing in the world, but it gets the job done! If you have a friend who makes Jun that would be your best source of a SCOBY as they are always multiplying. You can also get one here on Amazon or from Kombucha Kamp. Make sure when you acquire the SCOBY that it also comes with some starter liquid, which is just Jun tea that has finished fermenting.
You will also need a brewing vessel, a one gallon glass jar works best.
After getting a hold of a SCOBY and a nice fermenting jar, you will also want to get some green tea and honey. I usually buy this gunpowder green tea as it’s the cheapest organic green tea I can find. For the honey, I try to buy raw and locally as much as possible.
Once you have all of your supplies and ingredients, it’s time to start brewing! First boil a little more than a half gallon of water, take it off the heat, then add a few spoonfuls of green tea and let steep.
Add cool water to fill your jar to about 3/4 full (or maybe slightly more). Have your Jun SCOBY and about 2 cups of starter liquid ready. If you don’t have that much starter liquid I would do this whole process on a smaller scale in a quart jar for your first round, then use that to start a gallon batch.
Make sure the tea and honey mixture is totally cooled to room temperature, then add the starter liquid to the gallon jar. Then carefully float the Jun SCOBY on top.
It will probably float, but it might sink. Don’t worry, it will work out no matter what it does!
Cover the jar with a clean towel secured with a rubber band and put it in an out of the way spot in your kitchen. Try not to disturb it.
Depending on the temperature in your house, and how fermented you like it, the Jun should be finished anywhere from 5 to 14 days. I usually check it after about a week and often let it go for about 8-10 days, but I like mine rather strong. You will probably see bubbles rising to the surface.
And the SCOBY should have formed a baby! I usually let it go for a couple of rounds before I start giving away my SCOBY’s, just to make sure I have what I need, but then I start passing them out to friends like candy!
Once it’s finished fermenting you will want to set aside your Jun SCOBY and about two cups of starter liquid for your next batch. You can drink the Jun tea as is, or bottle it with another flavoring such as herbal tea or fruit juice like I did in my Hibiscus Kombucha post. This second ferment will create a naturally fizzy soda that is a real treat to drink. Just be careful that you don’t add too much fruit sugar as you can easily turn your Jun into volcanoes!
Fermenting your own Jun Kombucha is a fun experiment to do in your kitchen. It’s a healthy probiotic drink that is so much better for you than most things we are drinking, with it’s roots in ancient history. You get the benefits of green tea and honey all in one naturally fermented, tasty beverage. Can’t beat that! I hope you will try it!
Original article and pictures take www.growforagecookferment.com site
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