Lilac Blueberry Kombucha–you should totally make this

Last Updated on January 21, 2023 by Michelle

If you haven’t tried making kombucha, I wanna change that; if you haven’t tried lilac blueberry kombucha, I hope I convince you that you’ll be a better person if you do.

Okay, so that’s a little heavy handed. But I can promise that the few minutes of your day that you sit back with a glass of this in hand you will be smiling.

If you make it yourself, instead of paying a hefty price tag at the store, your wallet will be happy.

And, score, your gut health will improve. Win-win-win.

You’ve already seen little glimpses of my newest total obsession if you’ve been following on facebook or instagram. And I gotta tell you, I can’t believe how easy it is to make.

The Michelle of just 12 weeks ago would have told you you were crazy if you thought this lady would ever make kombucha. Would ever add one more thing to her plate right now. Would ever actually be successful at any new thing she added to her plate right now.

In fact, that Michelle of 12 weeks ago would have immediately shut down the conversation if you even mentioned the word “fermenting” to her. Fermenting is for cabbage, and leads to fowl sauerkraut (sorry if you’re a fan of the stuff… I just never could bring myself to like it).

But boy was I wrong. Well, about the kombucha. Not about the sauerkraut. (Again, no offense meant to those of you who support fermented cabbage. I’ll just never join your club.)

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Not a cookie-cutter drink.

So, it dawned on me last week–with Independence Day smack in the middle of the week–that fermenting your own drinks is an independent, democratic kind of thing. No one else’s kombucha is going to taste exactly like mine, and I love that. 

I mean seriously who wants a cookie-cutter drink when you can have new excitement every time you open a bottle? So let freedom ring, celebrate independence, and brew up some kombucha!

It’s so good for your gut.

After I happened upon enough articles about gut health, and eavesdropped on enough conversations about home-brewed kombucha, and bought enough of the yummy goodness at the store (which equaled just 2 bottles; this stuff is crazy expensive!), I asked a kombucha-creating friend where I sign up. And I’m only half joking. There is an underground Kombucha Klub around the globe that is devoted to this liquid goodness. Kombucha Superfans share tips, invite each other over to show off their kombucha headquarters that take up an entire corners of their kitchens, and cut up magical SCOBYs to give a piece to newbies, like me 12 weeks ago.

And that’s exactly what my neighbor Angela did for me… she willingly split her SCOBY to see it live on and prosper in my kitchen, improving my family’s health one delicious drink at a time. (Don’t know what a SCOBY is? Yeah, neither did Michelle of 12 weeks ago. Don’t worry, I’ll explain more in a future post.)

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If you know you want to start brewing this amazingness for yourself, I can’t think of anyone I’d recommend more than Heritage Acres Market for your source for the healthiest organic SCOBY you’ll find anywhere.

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As for the gut health, it’s complicated to explain. Who am I kidding? I don’t even understand the intricacies of it. But I can tell you that the SCOBY is good bacteria. When you let it sit and grow in your kombucha, taking in more good bacteria from the air around it (that’s why you don’t put a lid on your brewing but rubber band a piece of breathable fabric on top), your drink becomes kinda miraculous, filled with really good stuff your gut desperately needs.

Kombucha goals.

My next kombucha goal (sounds like it should be a hashtag, no? #kombuchagoals)? I’m gonna start my own SCOBY. From scratch. Yeah, I may totally fail, but I want to see if I can make maple kombucha. Since this SCOBY has been feeding on refined sugar since its infancy, I’ve read that changing it’s food source may kill it, so I’ll try to start my own, originating it on maple syrup… we’ll see. I very well may totally, completely fail. Follow along here, and on facebook, instagram,or pinterest. I gab, post, and pin about kombucha pretty often these days.

But for the past 12 weeks, I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of flavors and trying different things to see if I could get more carbonation in my kombucha. (Still learning in this area, so that will have to be a future post.)

UPDATE: Not only have I figured out how to build up amazing carbonation, I’ve learned how to use all kinds of different teas for first and second ferment, developed some amazing recipes for kombucha, and learned the differences–and advantages–of continuous brew kombucha, over batch brew… I am totally in love with (and hooked on) kombucha. It’s changed my life.

I put all of this knowledge, and so much more, in my just-released latest course: Simple DIY Kombucha. 

Please if nothing else hop over here and download my totally free printable that you will refer to every single time you make kombucha–totally no strings attached and no need to give me your email. Download that helpful printable from this page, right here.

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If you want to brew your kombucha with amazing organic blends that are made specifically for kombucha,  I can not recommend the teas over at Farmhouse Teas highly enough. Just hop over right here and glance at this amazingness!

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I haven’t met a flavor I didn’t like.

While I have yet to meet a bottle of this stuff that I didn’t like, I have to say I have a hands-down favorite. No matter how it turns out… no matter if it I open it too early, too eagerly, and it has zero carbonation… no matter if I put too little blueberries or too much lilac syrup… seriously, blueberry lilac kombucha is my hands-down favorite drink right now.

Here are the recipes for 5 flavors that are on the top of my list right now (in case you didn’t notice, yes I am a blueberry fanatic).

You’ll need the first round of fermented kombucha, which requires a SCOBY and 1- or 2-gallon glass jars to ferment in, and 32 oz jars with seals like these.  Choose a flavor below, add the ingredients to a jar, then fill with your first round of fermented unflavored kombucha (leaving a little headroom on each bottle).

Hop over to this article I wrote on The Prairie Homestead site all about how to make a first ferment.

If you wanna know about starting a SCOBY on your own, I write about that here. Then, if you’d like to know exactly what items I wouldn’t want to be without every week when I’m making a new batch of delicious kombucha, you definitely want to glance at this list of my favorite things.

But here are five of my favorite flavors.

For the first one–my absolute favorite kombucha flavor I’ve ever tasted–you’ll wanna read this post about how to make lilac syrup. But don’t worry, you can use almost any fragrant blooming flowers in your yard right now (not just lilacs) to make a delicious floral simple syrup to flavor your kombucha (or your tea… or your lemonade…).

And all of these recipes are for a 1/2-gallon second ferment of kombucha.

 

1. blueberry lilac

1/4 cup lilac syrup (I show you how to make your own lilac syrup right here) and 1/4 cup frozen blueberries. If it’s lilac season, I like to toss in some fresh blooms too.

 

2. lemon lavender

2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 teaspoon dried lavender (This is the best priced organic lavender I’ve found anywhere.)

 

3. blueberry ginger

1/4 cup frozen blueberries and roughly 1 tablespoon finely diced fresh ginger

 

4. blueberry pineapple

1/4 cup frozen blueberries and about 1/4 cup of scrap pieces of fresh pineapple and even the pineapple core which would typically just get thrown way, or composted.

 

5. pineapple ginger

scrap pieces of the pineapple and pineapple core and chopped pieces of ginger, maybe 1/8 cup of each?

 

What’s your favorite kombucha flavor? Please share in the comments! I’m always looking for new brewing inspiration.

And speaking of inspiration… oh my goodness, you need to check out these amazing kombucha teas right here… there is sooooo much to love!

“Meet” my latest kombucha in this recent fb live… you’ll never guess what this SCOBY is made from! Not following SoulyRested on facebook? Hop over and follow along; I’d love to see ya’ there!

Other Articles about DIY Kombucha You’ll Love:

Seven Favorite Kombucha Recipes

How to Make Kombucha with Maple Syrup

How to Improve Your Gut Health, with DIY Kombucha

DIY Kombucha… What Does it Really Cost to Make it Yourself?

 

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“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”  Mathew 6:31-31 (The Message Bible)