8/29 RB Rainbow Oolong #51-55 Grape Ape and Plain

by gregtpayne | Aug 29, 2015 | Uncategorized

This is a very healthy baby SCOBY. This was an experimental batch. First we tried 15 grams of loose leaf Oolong tea from Rainbow Grocery. While we typically use about 15 grams of tea in pre-made tea bags it appears that we need more loose leaf tea. The tea in bags seems to be more fine and produce a much stronger tea than the same amount of loose-leaf tea. So we tried another brew with 25 grams in five homemade bags.

We harvested this on 9/6 with Concord Grape juice in bottles 53-55, leaving 51 and 52 plain (we want to taste this strange Oolong that makes a light yellow-brown tea).

Moved 53-55 9/11

8/27 LB English Zen #41-45 Ginger

by gregtpayne | Aug 27, 2015 | Uncategorized

For this batch we used 3 Tazo English Breakfast tea bags and one large green tea bag (heaping scoop from wooden container).

We harvested this on 9/4 and flavored it with 1 tsp of ginger (some got 1 1/2 tsp). It seemed very fizzy. We’ll check it in a week.

Moved 41 to fridge on 9/11 for testing.

Moved 42-45 to fridge at 1:30 pm 9/14

8/26 RO Darjeeling #31-36 Strawberry

by gregtpayne | Aug 26, 2015 | Uncategorized

Darjeeling tea is a tea from the Darjeeling district in West Bengal, India. For this batch we used 10 cups water, 5 Tazo Darjeeling tea bags, 1 cup sugar and 1 1/2 cups starter buch.

We harvested this on 9/3 and flavored it with fresh strawberries. We will do a three day 2nd fermentation.

8/23 LO Poi Dog #11-16 Grape Ape

by Barbara Tajima | Aug 23, 2015 | Uncategorized

Poi Dog is our house blend of English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Oolong, green and white teas (1 bag each).

We flavored this batch on 8/31 with 1/4 cup Concord Grape juice (365 Organic) and 1 tbsp sugar. The buch was pretty strong so I’m hoping it won’t be too sweet. Will move a bottle a day starting on day 3 to figure out the second fermentation period for this new recipe.

8/21 RB Oolong #21-26 Blackberry Ginger

by gregtpayne | Aug 21, 2015 | Uncategorized

Oolong RP: /uːlɒŋ/, GA: /ulɑŋ/ (simplified Chinese: 乌龙; traditional Chinese: 烏龍; pinyin: wūlóng) is a traditional Chinesetea (Camellia sinensis) produced through a unique process including withering the plant under the strong sun andoxidation before curling and twisting.

For this batch we stuck with 4 bags of Choice Oolong, 10 cups of water and a cup of sugar for the nute.

We harvested this on 8/29 and flavored bottles #21-26 with 1/4 cup of blackberry puree, 1 tsp ginger and 1 tbsp sugar. We’ll let the second fermentation go for 3-4 days.

8/19 LB English Zen #3-6 Honey Ginger

by gregtpayne | Aug 19, 2015 | Uncategorized

ginger tea on a brown background

This batch is the same as our last English Breakfast except this time we used 4 bags of Tazo EB and 1 bag of green.

8/15 LO Poi Dog Blend #81-85 Acai – Guarana

by gregtpayne | Aug 15, 2015 | Uncategorized

Poi Dog is our house blend of English Breakfast, Darjeeling, Oolong, green and white teas (1 bag each).

We harvested this on 8/23 after eight days.  After eight days it tasted sweet and not vinegary.  We have bottles #81-85 with 1 fl oz of Sambazon acai superfruit pack original blend with guarana and 1 tbspn of sugar.  We will move the bottles at 3, 4 and 5 days to test how long we should go on the second fermentation.

8/12 RB Oolong #71-75 Honey Vanilla

by gregtpayne | Aug 12, 2015 | Uncategorized

Oolong RP: /uːlɒŋ/, GA: /ulɑŋ/ (simplified Chinese: 乌龙; traditional Chinese: 烏龍; pinyin: wūlóng) is a traditional Chinese tea (Camellia sinensis) produced through a unique process including withering the plant under the strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting.

This batch of pure Oolong was brewed with 4 bags (an experiment with less tea). One cup of sugar and 1 1/2 cups starter buch was added to make the nute.

We harvested this on 8/21. It tasted sweet and light, probably due to having less tea. It will be interesting to see how it tastes after a 9 day 2nd fermentation.