How to get a quality SCOBY
All batches of kombucha require a SCOBY (a kombucha culture) and some starter tea (previously fermented kombucha) to make more kombucha. It's like that old saying: it takes money to make money. So if you've never brewed before — where do you get your hands on a culture?
How to get a quality SCOBY · Watch on YouTube
Reputable online SCOBY sellers
- A number of online kombucha stores sell cultures. Find one that allows customer reviews — the more positive, the better. Ange got hers from Amazon (this one).*
- Avoid websites that sell dehydrated SCOBYs. There's no need for a dehydrated SCOBY: fresh ones are readily available and affordable, dehydrated ones take much longer to "wake back up," and because they've been dehydrated they're pretty much guaranteed to be weak — which puts you at risk for mold. Even if you squeeze out a few successful batches, the long-term risk isn't worth it. Why dehydrated SCOBYs disappoint →
- Avoid sellers that instruct you to use vinegar as your "starter" for your first batch. If you see those instructions — wherever your SCOBY came from — ignore them: distilled white or apple cider vinegar carries a different vinegar culture that can throw your kombucha culture out of balance. Instead, buy a bottle of store-bought plain, unflavored, raw kombucha and use approx. 1 cup of it for every ¼ cup of vinegar their instructions recommend. More on why other vinegars don't belong in kombucha, in the top-mistakes guide, and on video.
- Size doesn't matter much — the strength and volume of the starter tea matter more. A small SCOBY with strong starter is all you need. The size question, answered →
- Look for a good amount of starter tea. Many stores don't include nearly enough — the good news is you can always top up with plain, unflavored, raw store-bought kombucha to reach the 2 cups Ange recommends.
Get a SCOBY from a friend
If you have a friend who home brews, this is a great place to get a SCOBY! Make sure they've taken good care of it — kept it in a clean container, never refrigerated it, never used vinegar in their process. (Send them the sharing/transporting guide if they need tips.)
The upside: you can taste their kombucha first to make sure it tastes good to you — and ask them for tips on their brewing process. Don't forget to link them to youbrewkombucha.com or the YBK YouTube channel so they're set up for success from the start!
Grow your own
You can grow a SCOBY yourself from a bottle of raw, unflavored kombucha — it takes a month or more, but it's a fun experiment if you have the patience. Full instructions here →
You don't have to brew immediately — here's what to do while it waits →
On this page, you'll find some affiliate links to sources where Ange has purchased the ingredients/materials she uses. She may get a small cut of Amazon's profit for finding + recommending them to you — it won't cost you any more than you'd normally pay. She went through a lot of trial and error to find low-cost, high-quality options to save us all money. But feel free to purchase from wherever you like!