Can you make Kombucha with honey? Raw honey, even?
A few weeks back, when showing you how to divide a scoby — the Kombucha mother culture — I mentioned that we make our Kombucha with honey instead of sugar.
Many were intrigued and wondered if this was really possible.
Obviously, as our experience bears out, the answer is yes. 🙂
However, since I received many questions about this, this week I’m devoting #AskWardee to sharing the particulars… Check them out below in print, podcast, or video.
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The Question: Can You Make Kombucha With Honey?
Many of you asked me to share more information about how we make our Kombucha with honey. I’m happy to share more!
My Answer
Today, I’m going to tell you how to make Kombucha with honey — even raw honey. First, though, let’s answer the three big questions looming over everyone’s heads!
#1 — Because Raw Honey Is Anti-Microbial, Won’t It Interfere With The Ferment?
Yes, honey is anti-microbial.
In Kombucha or other fermented beverages, however, we have something called dilution on our side. 🙂
As Sandor Katz puts it in Wild Fermentation:
When by chance honey is mixed with water, fermentation happens. Yeasts surfing through the air aboard particles of dust find their way to that sweet, nutritive honey-water. When the honey is pure, it acts as a preservative and inhibits microscopic life. But honey diluted with water becomes a stimulating medium for airborne yeast to land in, feast upon, and reproduce exponentially, bubbling and vividly alive.
So, there you have it — diluted honey provides sweetening and does not interfere with fermentation.
#2 — Why Would You Make Kombucha With Honey, Anyway?
Most people make Kombucha with white sugar or evaporated cane juice — aka table sugar. It’s dissolved in a sweet tea.
The mother culture (the scoby) eats the sugar in the sweet tea while it produces beneficial acids and proliferates to create the bubbly, delicious, fermented beverage we call Kombucha.
And even though most of the sugar gets consumed during the fermentation, not all of it does.
Whatever amount is left is too much for us. We don’t want to eat any table sugar.
We’d much rather have honey, because honey is allowable on a gut-healing diet such as GAPS.
While we are technically not fully on the GAPS diet, we do still avoid sugar to maintain our gut health and for other benefits (weight management, energy, etc.).
So personally, we prefer to use honey for our Kombucha for this reason!
#3 — Should You Use A Jun Scoby?
You may have heard about Jun. It’s a special kind of Kombucha that’s brewed with honey and green tea. The scoby itself is slightly different from the regular Kombucha scoby. The resulting beverage Jun contains 2% alcohol as opposed to 0.5% alcohol in regular Kombucha. (Here’s more info on Jun.)
Yes, you can use a jun scoby for your honey-brewed probiotic beverage.
Or, you can simply use your regular Kombucha scoby, using honey as the sweetener from here on out. This is what we do. 🙂
How To Use Honey For Kombucha
This is my process of making Kombucha with honey (the full instructions are here):
- Bring water and loose tea or tea bags to a simmer. (Just a small amount of water to cover the tea bags and then some; not the full amount you’ll need for the batch. Use 2 tablespoon loose tea per gallon of Kombucha you’re making.)
- Turn off heat. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes.
- Strain.
- Add honey and stir. (Use 3/4 cup raw honey for every gallon of Kombucha you’re making.)
- Add some cold water to bring the temperature down.
- Pour into your fermenting vessel that contains the scoby and some finished Kombucha.
- Add remaining water to fill vessel.
- Cover and ferment as usual.
- (Optional) If desired, do a second ferment to add flavor and increase bubbles in bottles like these.
You’ll notice I call for 3/4 cup of honey per gallon, while usually Kombucha calls for 1 cup of sugar per gallon. Honey is sweeter, so less is needed.
It’s really that simple!
Transition Time
Although I had no trouble simply switching from sugar to honey, it’s possible that your scoby may take time to adjust.
So…
…give the honey Kombucha extra time to ferment fully as the scoby adjusts to the new food source.
…split your scoby and keep making Kombucha the usual way while you also start a batch with honey.
This way, you won’t mess up what you’ve got going while you try out something new. 🙂
Bonus Tip For Trim Healthy Mamas!
If you’re a Trim Healthy Mama, ferment your Kombucha until it’s quite sour — either a first or second ferment — then “sweeten” to taste with liquid stevia!
Helpful Links:
- How To Divide A Scoby #AskWardee 083
- How To Make Kombucha
- How To Bottle Kombucha (aka Second Ferment) #AskWardee 086
- Continuous Brew Kombucha (review)
- How To Create A Scoby Hotel
- Where To Buy A Kombucha Scoby
- Where To Buy A Jun Scoby
- Where To Buy Bottles — if you want to do a second ferment for bubbly, flavored Kombucha!
- Where To Buy Liquid Stevia — if you have sour Kombucha that you need to “sweeten up” without sugar!
- Is Jun Right For You? All Your Questions Answered!
- GAPS Articles/Archives
- FREE Fermenting Formulas Cheat Sheet
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Do you use honey for Kombucha? Why and how? What tips would you add?
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Does the taste of honey kombucha differ from that of sugar kombucha?
Naomi — If it’s a mild honey, not much different, though perhaps a tad more rich/flowery. If the honey is a strong flavor, like blackberry, it does have more of a fruity/floral flavor. We like the additional flavor from any type of honey very much!
I was wondering where you get your honey?
My brother is a bee keeper and even buying it from him would put me in the poor house if I used it for my kombucha. I already use it when I make green tea with lemon & honey as an alternative to the Arizona brand in a can. I always buy it raw!
Carol — Price is an issue, for sure! I often buy it locally from a vendor I might find at the Farmer’s Market. I ask for their bulk prices. I will happily buy up to 5 gallons to get the price down. Costco has local raw honey, too (at least here in Indiana) and it’s a good price. I hope this helps! I totally understand if it’s not doable for you. 🙂
I don’t have a Costco membership but a close friend does. I will check the prices there. Thank you! I love watching your videos!
Also, about the bottles. I made my son in law drink Grolsch for awhile since he is a beer drinker, then we just didn’t return the bottles for deposit. There is also a liquor store that has agreed to save them for me. I am in Michigan and they have a deposit of 10 cents a bottle. I will just pay them the deposit. I have been using GT bottles that I saved and run through the dishwasher, but the little seals inside the caps are wearing. A gallon makes about 6 bottles. I do 2 gallons at a time so I am hoping to acquire about 25 bottles. That way I can still have some in the fridge when I bottle the next batch and that gives me a bottle to enjoy each day! The replacement seals are available online from home-brewing sites as well as Amazon.
I’ve had my scobys in kombucha in the fridge for months. I seldom replenish the tea. I’ve tried making new batches of kombucha with these scobys and they do regrow slowly, but the tea always tastes pretty vinegary. Should I buy a fresh scoby or work with the honey/sugar ratio. I’ve never. Even successful here in the San Francisco area making kombucha. I use filtered tap water… maybe that’s it?!?
Hi Karen,
Is your water reverse osmosis? This could affect your scoby.
Usually a vinegary kombucha results from brewing too long. Kombucha can be brewed from 7 to 30 days. Longer brewing results in less sugar and a more vinegar flavor. Temperature can also change the brew time. Warmer weather can result in a quicker brew. You could try tasting your brew at 7 days and then stopping when it reaches the flavor you like.
You may be able to use your current Scoby to switch to honey. It couldn’t hurt to try. 🙂
~ Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
If I transition a regular scoby to honey and green tea, will it start producing 2% alcohol instead of .5%?
Hi Shauna,
We are actually not sure about this. We suspect that it’s the mother culture that makes the higher alcohol content, not the honey. But we haven’t seen any evidence either way.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Can I use a Scooby from kombusha to make Jun?
Hi Pamela,
No, you need a Jun scoby to make Jun.
However, if you use your Kombucha scoby with honey as a sweetener as I do, it’s sort of like Jun, but not officially because it’s not the right scoby. 🙂
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
I looked at the link you provided for bottles, but I prefer 16 oz bottles for my Kombucha. Do the bottles have to be specifically for kombucha, or can I use these bottles that say they’re for beer?
Melinda,
Sure. For beer is fine. You want to look for grolsch-style. 🙂
~ Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
Wondering… In this honey Kombucha recipe it says to use 1/2 C of loose tea, but in the original recipe it says to use 2 tablespoons loose tea for a gallon of Kombucha. Is there a misprint here?
Hi Jenny,
Thank you for letting us know about this! 2 tablespoons is the correct amount. We’ve updated this post. 🙂
~ Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
I am so glad to get the info on using honey instead of sugar. I had been getting organic sugar but have not had an issue with sugar being left over because I prefer to let my kombucha ferment longer than 7days. I have let it go up to 21 days. I use mine more medicinally and add herbs in the second ferment, sometimes fruit when I find a good sale or have dried fruit on hand. It has a tendency to have a strong flavor and I have to cut it for family members. I had issues with a bad shoulder and was using kombucha as a means of getting more herbs without just drinking tea and green smoothies. I am currently in a food dessert in Chicago, IL and am lucky to find organic sugar [and I have a tendency to suspect that]. It is nowhere near the offerings in Minnesota. I am looking forward to trying with honey once I get my hands on some. I think I would like to try buckwheat honey! It was great in a cough remedy I tried a few years ago.
Hi there, like the video, thanks!
Question, I produce my own honey and my family consumes it raw for the added enzyme benefits. I would like to retain these enzymes thus would need to add the raw honey to the tea after it has cooled to below 117 degrees. Do you know if this will pose any problems? Specifically, by adding the honey after the tea has cooled, am I possibly introducing toxins, bad bacteria, etc into the tea which may end up being present in the final kombucha?
Hi Daniel,
This is what Wardee does and she’s had no issues. Because the honey is diluted, it doesn’t seem to interfere with the ferment. 🙂
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Using your honey recipe (3/4C honey per gallon), how many calories are there in a 12 or 16 oz glass, letting it sit 10 days? I know scoby eats most of the sugar. Does it eat most of the honey? I like using natural raw honey but I don’t like the calories. Thanks!
Hi, Anna,
I am sorry we do not know the calories because fermenting can be different from ferment to ferment due to temperatures and time. It does consume most of the honey.
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
Can I use dried moringa leaves instead of tea bags?
Hi Laura,
We’re not sure.
You could try a small batch with a little scoby in case it doesn’t work out.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Hello Wardee, thank you for the great video. You mentioned that Jun typically has 2% alcohol and Kombucha 0.5%. However, you didn’t say if brewing Kombucha with honey would increase the alcohol content. Is higher alcohol content also a byproduct of brewing Kombucha with honey?
Hi, Brendan:
I checked with Wardee, and she is not sure either way. So sorry we can’t help further!
Have a great day!
Hi.
Iwas curious about the amount of tea you use for the honey kombucha.
For regular kombucha I use 8 grams of green tea per liter.
Calculating your given amounts of 2 table spoons per gallon, that would only be one gram of tea per liter. Is that right?
Thanks and best regards,
Max
Hi, Max.
Here’s the math:
2 Tablespoons is 30 grams.
There are 3.7 liters in a gallon, so that means approx 8 grams per liter.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Hi! just wanted to clarify, if i have a sugar trained SCOBY, i can use honey in the 1st fermentation process? I heard you have to honey train them but im confused with the process… i heard so many mixed reviews on how honey is not good for the 1st fermentation process.
Great question! Wardee had no trouble switching from sugar to honey. I do recommend splitting your scoby and keep making Kombucha the usual way while you also start a batch with honey in case something goes wrong and you still have your original Kombucha.
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
I just made my first batch of Kombucha with honey (raw). There is a deep layer of white sediment that has settled on the bottom. My SCOBY still looks good, it’s growing daily and I see tons of tiny bubbles, but I can’t find anything online about this white clumpy sediment on the bottom. Someone from my homesteading group said it could be yeast, but nobody else could give me an answer. Have you ever had this happen?
Hi, Samo,
Yes, we often have sediment and my understanding is it is normal, though I’m not sure I can say it’s yeast or not. This sediment is frequent with many fermented beverages. 🙂
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
I want to try the honey on my next batch of kombucha, but just wondering why your honey booch wasn’t fizzy when you poured it into the glass? Is this normal when using honey?
Hi, Jane.
Wardee said, “Honey kombucha can be very fizzy… when second fermented or bottled up. We get a lot of fizz! :)”
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Hi! Question about botulism when using honey. You all seem to be alive and well, so that alone is pretty good evidence, but there is a decent amount of posts online that say DO NOT use honey in Kombucha because of botulism risk. I also understand that botulism doesn’t like fermentation much so think it’s probably bunk, but can you officially chime in on this topic? Thanks!
Hi, DK: I’m sorry, we don’t have an answer here. There is a traditional form of kombucha called jun that’s always made with honey, and yes, we are alive and healthy, so I tend toward it is safe and we will continue to do it. —Wardee
Hello, Wardee
Since reading your post a few months ago I have switched to raw honey for my kombucha. I second ferment it. It is wonderful!!!
I notice that there is a lot more sediment at the bottom compared to using sugar. Is that because it is faster brewing and so produces the ‘leftovers’ more quickly?
Thanks for your help
Lynn
Hi Lynn, we don’t know why you’re experiencing more sediment – there is sediment regardless. Wardee hasn’t notice more when using honey. But if the Kombucha is working, no worries! ~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team
Hello Wardee,
Thank you so much much for your video on making kombucha with raw honey. I actually have been doing that successfully for quite a few months now, until I recently discovered that many people are saying that it’s bad for the scoby. So I came across your video as I was searching for more information on this subject. So thank you very much! I’m thankful that I can continue to use raw honey instead of sugar for the health benefits of it.
I would only want to share one thing about honey, which my dad (who is a bee keeper) has thought me, and many people are not aware of.
If honey is added to hot water, it looses some of its natural health benefits. Which is why raw honey is preferred over pasteurized. So in order to keep all the natural benefits of it, it should not be heated more than 95 degrees F. Therefore when adding to a tee, the liquid should be cooled down first.
There’s more information out there on this subject, but here’s just one link.
Thank you again, and God bless.
https://markbunn.com.au/blog/honey-never-put-it-in-hot-water-teas#:~:text=It%20can%20be%20great%20for%20colds%2A%2C%20clearing%20sinuses%2Fcongestion,changed%20irrevocably%2C%20making%20it%20indigestible%20%28in%20a%20sense…toxic%21%21%21%29.