Of course just as my vacation is ending and I must trudge back to work, my Kombucha starter arrives in the mail. I have to be to work in an hour, which is not nearly enough time to get my tea brewed, cooled, and ready to support Scoby here. But there is hope, it is completely okay to store him in the refrigerator for a bit until I can sanitize my equipment, brew the tea, wait for it to cool, then stuff him into a nice dark cupboard to ferment.
As for the brewing instructions that came with my new pal, I'm not convinced that these are the best to follow. They are mostly similar to what I have already researched, but I think I may be taking a few liberties.
I decided on a nice organic oolong tea for my first batch. It was a little spendy, $4 for 16 tea bags, but given the time crunch I didn't have time for my usual online hunt for deals or to check out the local health food market. So the Fred Myers health food section will have to work for now. I am also choosing to use pure organic cane sugar rather than refined white sugar. Alas I have not found a good apple vinegar that I could afford after the tea, sugar, glass jars, cheesecloth, etc, so I'll just be using a plain white vinegar for my first batch. After that I shouldn't need any more vinegar, assuming all goes well and the batch is viable. And that's it really, all I need now is the time to put it all together.
So into the fridge little Scoby goes. He'll be in a kind of stasis in the lower temperature and I shouldn't have to worry about any unwanted friends joining him in there.
And off I go to work. :(
