How to grow your own SCOBY
All you need is at least two cups of unflavored, pure kombucha. It'll take at least a month — but it's certainly possible, and a fun experiment if you've got the patience for it.
Grow your own SCOBY · Watch on YouTube
Rather buy a fully-grown, ready-to-brew SCOBY? Make sure it's from a reputable source — here's how to spot one.
How to grow a SCOBY
Buy raw kombucha
At least 2 cups (16 fl. oz.) of unflavored, raw (unpasteurized) kombucha.
Jar it
Pour the kombucha into a glass jar, cover with a breathable cotton cloth, and secure with a rubber band.
Wait 4–5 weeks (at least)
Leave the jar in a dark, well-ventilated spot. Try not to agitate it — even minor movements can cause the forming SCOBY to sink. In a cold home, expect 6–8 weeks.
Check thickness
Once the SCOBY is at least ½-inch thick and the kombucha has evaporated/concentrated down to about a cup of very acidic liquid, you're ready: that liquid is your starter tea, and the newborn SCOBY goes with it.
How to brew with your new SCOBY
If you started with 2 cups of kombucha, it usually concentrates down to about 1 cup — so brew a half-gallon batch first. Take the full 1-gallon recipe and cut the measurements in half:
- 6–7 cups water
- 1–1½ tbsp loose-leaf black tea
- ½ cup white cane sugar
After a successful half-gallon batch, reserve 2 cups of the finished kombucha as starter tea and scale up to a full gallon. A new SCOBY may form on each batch — but even if it doesn't, keep reusing your homemade one until it no longer produces delicious kombucha. (See SCOBY care & hotels for storage.) The whole process, start to finish, lives in the quick start guide.
The honest downsides
In previous posts and videos, you may have heard Ange mention she doesn't typically recommend growing your own — reputable sellers ship viable SCOBYs cheaply and much faster than one grows. But plenty of people are curious, so she put it to the test with a bottle of GT's Original (the most prolific brand in the States).
The catch: frankly, many mass-market kombucha producers aren't honest about their processes. Some pasteurize, water down, or use yeast inhibitors to guarantee a consistent, shelf-stable product — and the FDA doesn't regulate those labels, so a bottle can say "raw" and still contain no live, active cultures. Buy one of those less-than-honest brands and your SCOBY may not grow at all — or grow but never be viable long-term.
If you buy local from small-batch, transparent producers, or you trust your brand, go for it. But if it doesn't work, question whether that brand actually makes true, pure kombucha — or just source a SCOBY from a reputable seller.