Chris Edward
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- Jun 1, 2019
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Hello all
I keep reading page after page on Kombucha brewing and they all pretty much parrot each other, but don’t really give a reason why the tea is necessary.
I am curious if the tea is even necessary?
Is it used because strong black tea is slightly acidic?
Does anyone have any links or PDF sources to research done, showing why the tea is necessary?
People have cited how the SCOBY uses the caffeine from the tea but I have also seen people cite reports (with no links to the reports) that say there have been tests on the caffeine on new tea and SCOBY tea and except for what would be expected to be lost due to oxidation from the tea sitting at room temperature for several weeks, the loss in caffeine wasn’t enough to cause an effect on the SCOBY.
Basically it seems like there's the same amount of caffeine is in the final brew as what goes into it.
Also I have witnessed the tea lightening.
I use a Whiskey color chart myself.
Found here:
http://malt-review.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Colour-bar-Big-1024x214.jpg
My tea starts out as “burnt umber (1.7)” and a few days later it is “amber (0.7)" colored and pretty much stays that way through the rest of the brew.
This suggests that the color change has less to do with the SCOBY gaining some nutritive value from the initial tea but instead the acidic nature of the initial tea being added to the much more acidic SCOBY starter tea, causing a lightening of the color.
Any information other than opinion would be greatly appreciated.
I am sorry if this comes off rude, I am just trying to remove as many variables that can go wrong from my SCOBY brews as possible and I am just curious.
Thank you for your help
I keep reading page after page on Kombucha brewing and they all pretty much parrot each other, but don’t really give a reason why the tea is necessary.
I am curious if the tea is even necessary?
Is it used because strong black tea is slightly acidic?
Does anyone have any links or PDF sources to research done, showing why the tea is necessary?
People have cited how the SCOBY uses the caffeine from the tea but I have also seen people cite reports (with no links to the reports) that say there have been tests on the caffeine on new tea and SCOBY tea and except for what would be expected to be lost due to oxidation from the tea sitting at room temperature for several weeks, the loss in caffeine wasn’t enough to cause an effect on the SCOBY.
Basically it seems like there's the same amount of caffeine is in the final brew as what goes into it.
Also I have witnessed the tea lightening.
I use a Whiskey color chart myself.
Found here:
http://malt-review.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Colour-bar-Big-1024x214.jpg
My tea starts out as “burnt umber (1.7)” and a few days later it is “amber (0.7)" colored and pretty much stays that way through the rest of the brew.
This suggests that the color change has less to do with the SCOBY gaining some nutritive value from the initial tea but instead the acidic nature of the initial tea being added to the much more acidic SCOBY starter tea, causing a lightening of the color.
Any information other than opinion would be greatly appreciated.
I am sorry if this comes off rude, I am just trying to remove as many variables that can go wrong from my SCOBY brews as possible and I am just curious.
Thank you for your help