You Brew Kombucha’s favorite flavor pairings

​

I very often mix and match these pairings because these are my favorite ingredients. They play so beautifully together! I’ll just hodgepodge a bunch of delicious fruit together to make my flavoring. It’s not unlikely to find a bottle of passionfruit-raspberry-pineapple-ginger in my fridge. And it’s not hard to come up with something yummy when you start with a basis of great ingredients!

 

Passionfruit-Pomegranate: Goya Fruita frozen passionfruit pulp + POM pomegranate juice + sugar

 

Blackberry-Mint: pureed blackberries + a few whole mint leaves

 

Blood Orange-Blackberry: blood orange juice + blackberry puree

 

Tangerine-Rosemary: tangerine juice and zest + a sprig of rosemary

 

“Sangria:” grape juice + apple juice + pear juice + orange juice and zest + dash of cinnamon

 

Raspberry-Ginger-Lemon: pureed raspberries + ginger juice + lemon juice and zest

• This is a riff on GT’s Trilogy recipe, but I think homemade is better, if I do say so myself!

 

Citrus Mint: orange juice and zest + lemon juice and zest + sugar + mint leaves

 

Mango-Pineapple: pureed mango + pineapple juice

 

Oro Blanco Grapefruit: oro blanco grapefruit juice

• If you can find oro blanco grapefruit, those are sweeter and have a mellow, honey flavor compared to regular ruby red grapefruit

 

Plum-Thyme: plum juice + a few sprigs of thyme

 

Cherry-Ginger: cherry juice + ginger juice

 

Strawberry-Lemon: pureed strawberries + lemon juice and zest

 

Watermelon-Lime: watermelon juice + lime juice and zest

 

“Mint Julep:” lime juice and zest + sugar + mint

 

Pear-Rose: pear juice + rosewater

• Use the rosewater sparingly, it can be overpowering

 

Apple-Raspberry: apple juice + pureed raspberries

 

Apricot-Hibiscus: apricot juice + dried hibiscus flowers steeped in water + sugar

• Alternatively you can use bagged hibiscus tea

 

Peach-Orange Blossom: peach juice + orange blossom water 

• Use the orange blossom water sparingly, it can be overpowering

 

What’s your recipe? A note on measurement...

 

I don’t measure when I puree or juice my fruit, so none of my flavor combos have a set “recipe.” I adjust based on my taste preferences, so I recommend that you rely on your tongue to dictate your recipe.

 

As a general guideline, I like to use about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of puree/juice per 16 oz. bottle. If I find that the fruit is a little on the sour side, I add some cane sugar to the puree to help sweeten it up. In some instances above, I’ve noted where the fruit combos likely need a sugar boost to help balance out the flavor. You can adjust the sweetness levels to your preference, knowing that the yeasts rely on those sugars to produce carbonation and some of the sweetness will continue to get eaten away during second fermentation.  

 

Juicing vs. blending/puree-ing

 

My favorite way to flavor is with fresh fruit that I juice or puree myself. Read my article on flavoring to learn more about other flavoring methods and to see why I prefer fresh puree over cut pieces of fruit or other options. Whenever I use herbs, I also generally prefer fresh over dried.

 

I’ve had some hit-or-miss moments with store-bought frozen or bottled fruit, but I have a couple flavorings that I prefer to buy instead of make myself. I’ll note those in my “grocery list” below, but aside from those, I go fresh all the way!

 

If you have a juicer, it’ll remove a lot of the pulp for you so that’s great. But juicers aren’t really the best way to get the full flavor out of things like blackberries or raspberries, for instance. I prefer juicing fruit like pineapple, ginger, apples, pears, citrus to remove the more fibrous/pulpy parts. But I prefer to puree berries in my blender.

 

Grocery list

​

My list always starts with whatever fresh fruit is available and in-season!

 

But below are the ingredients I like to buy instead of make myself:

​

• Goya Fruta frozen passionfruit/maracuya pulp (can be found at Mexican/Latinx grocery stores)

  • I always have a stockpile of this in my freezer. I haven’t yet found a flavor that can’t be enhanced with a bit of passionfruit. It’s my absolute favorite, even just by itself.

• POM pomegranate juice

• Rosewater (can be found in Middle Eastern stores)

• Orange blossom water (can be found in Middle Eastern stores)

• Dried hibiscus flowers/hibiscus tea