Hello from The Kombucherie

I've been down this blog/website road before.

A decade ago I tried my best to amuse my family and friends with stories from the road in Asia and the Pacific Rim and then spent a year writing about misadventures and cultural moments while living in Japan.

I tried to start my own travel company.

For a brief period I went the fitness route.

And now I'm squarely in what you may classify as my "mid-30s" and frankly, I've been missing writing and being a little bit creative.

I asked for a kombucha starter kit for Christmas and at the start of the year, found myself in a staring contest with what appeared to be Jabba the Hut's kneecap. Gross, right? I followed the directions down to the letter for the first fermentation and then when it got to the second stage, I found myself overwhelmed by all of the advice on the internet.

The second fermentation should last 3 days .... no, 5 ... no, 7. You should use whole fruit ... no, fruit juice. Refrigeration? Yes! No! So much contrarian advice! The first 7 days were the easy part. The next bit was a bit all over the place and eventually I settled on chopping up some fresh and frozen fruit with a bit of chopped ginger and lemon. I gave it 3 days before popping my first bottle. Very little fizz. A couple of days later, some bubbles! It seemed that even though the internet got my brain all scrambled, my hearty kombucha was motivated for success.

The first batch sold me on the flavor of at-home booch, but now I want to sort through all of the advice and give others the confidence to save money by putting a little energy into making kombucha at home.

And I want to make my own scobys from scratch. And try lavender in my mix. All while trying to perfect my straining methods which right now are atrocious. I'm also planning on trying a variety of teas even though I don't like green tea. Call me crazy.

And, of course, continue bringing happiness into my life in the form of fizzy bubbles.

#kombucha