The Strange History of Kombucha: From Russian "Tea Fungus" to Global Phenomenon

What do we call this drink?

Depending on which website you read, kombucha was invented in China, discovered by a Korean doctor, given to an emperor, or has existed for thousands of years.  The real history is far less certain, but even more interesting.

We make and drink чайный гриб (pronounced chaynyy grib). I like it.  I have read many places on the internet where it is referred to as Чайный квас (chaynyy kvass), and many westerners refer to it as 'Kombucha'.  Whatever you call it, this is a great drink, and Like many traditional household ferments, it is also surprisingly cheap to make.  Like many common things, the history of kombucha is surprisingly intriguing. 

We don’t know definitively where kombucha originated, nor do we know how it got its popular western name 'Kombucha'.  

It is noteworthy that Kombucha is not the same as Japanese kelp tea, which is confusingly called 'konbu-cha' or 'kobu-cha'.  Kelp tea is a tea made from kelp, kombucha is made from fermenting tea.  

The history of kombucha is interesting.  I will split this into parts, recent and verifiable history, and older history that needs a little deciphering.  All of the history is fascinating, and while we cannot prove exactly where kombucha originated, the earliest reliable records I can find point to Russia and Siberia as the first documented home of kombucha.

Some of my traditionally made kombucha

The Mystery of the Name Kombucha

While we cannot know exactly where kombucha first developed, the earliest reliable records we have of the drink are from Russia in the early 1800s.  We know that kombucha entered the western nations through Russia.  We know when and how it left Russia, and we know where it went once it left Russia.  This part of kombucha history is not under any debate.  

We also know in Russia it was (as it still is today) referred to as чайный гриб, which translates to something like 'tea fungus'.  In English this would be pronounced something like chaynyy grib.  This is what everyone grew up hearing it called.  Sometimes it is just called grib, which means something like 'mushroom' or 'fungus'.  Today in places where people speak more English, when talking about kombucha I hear people say things like ‘we used to have our own mushroom’ meaning that they used to brew kombucha at home.  I am yet to hear anyone Slavic call it kombucha.  The name чайный гриб has been used for so many generations of Russians that, if it did have a previous name, it was well and truly lost that name generations before leaving Russia.  

It makes no sense that when going from Russia to Germany and further west that it would revert from the commonly used name чайный гриб to an unused previous name of 'kombucha' that no one ever used or even remembered.  Logically, it could keep the name чайный гриб, or take one or more translated versions of чайный гриб, or possibly get a new name entirely.  It seems far more realistic that the name kombucha is a completely new name that it was given after it left Russia, and it had never been called that before.  

My kombucha in a jar with a tap

The Earliest Documented Records: Kombucha in Siberia

The available historical evidence points most strongly toward Russia and Siberia as the earliest documented home of kombucha. 

Evidence strongly suggests that kombucha was popular from the early 1800s in Siberia.  Kombucha appears to have been a familiar household ferment in many parts of Siberia, passed between families in much the same way other traditional cultures were.  It seems like many households had it, the babushkas made it with leftover tea and ladled it out for the family.  This makes sense as the samovar was an integral part of Russian life, every family drank a lot of tea.  Russians did not waste food, and left over tea was used to make kombucha.  This was a folk medicine to keep the family healthy and strong.

While there are several references to kombucha, there isn't a huge amount written from back then as most commoners were illiterate, and kombucha was so common that no one really bothered to write about it.  Still, there are some references to it, most mention it in an off hand way as if they assume that everyone knows of this common thing.  

Tea would have been expensive in those days, but many babushkas still made kombucha for their families to keep them healthy.  We know that tea was in Siberia in the 1600s but it was expensive, and that people also made tea substitute using Bergenia crassifolia (and a few other plants).  Because B crassifolia was traditionally used as a tea substitute in Siberia, it is possible that some households used similar substitutes when making fermented tea drinks, although direct historical evidence is limited.  This plant was native to Siberia, and would have been easily obtainable by everyone in that area, so it is possible that some households could have made fermented tea-like drinks even when traditional tea was prohibitively expensive.  

In 1835 a Russian government official was sent to Irkutsk, Siberia.  As documented in the 1835 travel diaries of Russian researcher and official P. R. Stantsevich during his expedition:

“Irkutsk is an amazing city. Here tea is drunk not only hot, as is customary for us, but also cold, insisting that it has a slippery cake, like a mushroom that grows on rotten stumps. However, the drink is quite tasty, similar to our Vyazma kvass.”

This description closely resembles kombucha as we know it today, although it does not explicitly name the culture.  It is highly likely that this was referring to kombucha, and if so this is one of the first written records of kombucha.  This description is important because it is not a legend written centuries later, nor was it a marketing ploy.  It is a contemporary observation from someone describing an everyday household drink.

From Siberia, kombucha spread throughout Russia, and then seems to have started spreading out of Russia and went a little further west as mentioned above.     

This is where the documented history of kombucha ends.  We know kombucha was in Siberia in the early 1800s.  Everything older than this needs a bit of consideration and guess work.  

From Russian Household Ferment to European Health Tonic

We know that kombucha spread to the world at large from western Europe, and we know that it reached western Europe from Russia.  

In the 1910's there is mention of kombucha in Poland, with various newspaper articles and classified ads mentioning a “Japanese mushroom”.  There is broad agreement that this kombucha had not come from Japan, but had come from Russia.  Back then, people would name things to sound mysterious and foreign.  Adding the name 'Japanese' helped things to sound more decadent, much like how the tomato called Japanese Black Trifele is actually an old heirloom Russian variety of tomato.  When things sound mysterious and ancient they tend to sell better.

From there kombucha began to gain popularity across Europe.  By World War I there start being reports in newspapers of kombucha being used as a 'health tonic'.  Kombucha appears to have become increasingly known in Germany and other parts of Europe after the First World War, likely helped by contact between Russia and Europe during this period.  I have read various internet claims that when soldiers and prisoners of war returned from Russia they brought the culture with them.  To put this in perspective, penicillin was not available until 1928, which was after World War I had ended.  

Interestingly, after kombucha left Russia it was thought of as a 'health tonic' or 'medicine', it was sold as a 'cure all' that almost had magical properties.  

There are scattered accounts of folk practices surrounding kombucha, including attempts to increase its perceived potency through religious symbolism.  I read several accounts of people in Italy stealing holy water to use in kombucha in an attempt to make it more potent.  I also read that this caused a stir, and all kinds of efforts were made to prevent people doing this.  

This seems to have been a local cultural practice rather than something connected to kombucha itself.  In Orthodox communities, holy water has traditionally had a different cultural role, including being used in households.  Holy water is freely given out in Eastern Orthodox churches, and people commonly use holy water to cook with or drink sips of it each morning.  No one really writes about cooking with holy water as it is such a common practice that it doesn't need to be said.  

It is possible that using holy water in kombucha was also practiced in pre-Soviet Russia, but this is difficult to prove because ordinary household practices were rarely recorded.  Much like orthodox Christians using holy water in cooking is so common nowadays that no one bothers to write about it, using holy water to brew kombucha back then would likely have been so common that no one would have bothered to write about it.  

It seems once kombucha left Russia it spread in almost every direction by multitudes of people, and there is no one historical journey from this point.  From here on it just spread, countless individuals and families took it with them to countless new places.  Most people made it for its health benefits, some liked the taste, and some wanted to make money from it.

All of this modern history places the earliest documented use of kombucha in Russia.  This is not under dispute, what does cause controversy is the question of the history of kombucha before Russia (and if kombucha even existed prior to being in Russia).

My kombucha SCOBY - like a jellyfish in a jar

The Older History: Separating Evidence From Legend

Did Kombucha Really Come From China, Korea, or Japan?

The internet speaks of kombucha as originating in China, or Korea, or Japan, each of which are difficult to support with historical evidence.

A lot of kombucha websites particularly focus this claim on China, yet the reasoning behind this claim is lacking.  It seems the claim that kombucha may have originated in China is made purely on the basis that tea was common in China, and this claim seems to ignore all evidence indicating this may not be the case. 

Kombucha does not appear to have the same longstanding household tradition in China, Korea, or Japan that it has in Russia.  Many Chinese people have never heard of kombucha, and the ones who have mostly see it as a new thing.  

Although kombucha is often described online as originating in East Asia, clear historical evidence linking the modern drink to China, Korea, or Japan is difficult to identify.  

The Korean Doctor Kombu Story Seems Unlikely

The internet speaks of the name kombucha as being the old name for this drink, which is improbable.  It is far more likely that the name kombucha is a relatively new name that was made to sound mysterious and oriental. 

There is a story that the word 'kombucha' was made by combining the name of a Korean doctor (called Kombu) with the word for tea (chai).  Combining words like this for something new is imaginable, and without thinking about this further you could be excused for believing it is true, but in this case it does not appear to be where the name kombucha arose.  While this is romantic, it is unlikely to be true for a number of reasons.

Many websites mention a Korean doctor with the surname of Kombu from the kingdom of Silla on the Korean Peninsula.  It is said on many websites that he gave a curative tea drink to the Japanese Emperor Ingyō.  While this is commonly mentioned on kombucha websites, historical documents seem to lack any reference to a doctor by this name.  If this doctor did exist, he was not remarkable enough to be written about.

To add to this, Kombu does not appear to be a Korean surname, or if it is, it is a very rare surname.  

While an unremarkable doctor with a unique name does not mean that he did not exist, it begins to cast a little doubt on the accuracy of the story.  

The only reference I can find which makes any mention of this has the medic’s name as 'Kon Mu' (which is almost like kombu), unfortunately this may be a completely different person as this reference says nothing of him using any form of curative tea.  

Combining the name for tea with the name of a doctor not mentioned in history with a unique surname do not rule out this story by itself.  The most glaring issue with this story is why this common name would exist now.  

If the name was made by combining the name of the doctor with the name for tea (which sounds reasonable enough) why would the name have then been changed when it entered Russia, kept as the new name for several generations (to the point that the old name had long been forgotten), and then upon entering new lands with several new languages be changed back to the now forgotten old name.  This creates a historical problem that is difficult to explain.

Did Sugar Influence Where Kombucha Developed? 

The basic idea is that kombucha probably first came about because someone left some tea out and the right combination of microbes colonised it.  A lot of tea was in China, therefore people assume the chances of this happening in China were probably high.  But there is one significant problem with this.

Kombucha needs sugar in order to ferment.  

Tea was traditionally made without sugar in China and Japan.  This adds evidence that kombucha probably did not spontaneously originate in China or Japan.  

Tea in Russia was traditionally made with sugar (or with some other natural sweetener).   

Kombucha is commonly consumed in Russia, there are various family traditions surrounding this.  

Japan and China do not traditionally drink kombucha, traditionally they drink tea (without sugar), or they drink kelp tea with a name that sounds similar to 'kombucha'.  This kelp tea superficially looks similar to чайный гриб, and also comes from the Mysterious East, this means kombucha may have gained the common name while being an entirely different beverage.  

Kombucha - I brew a lot of it

So, Where Did Kombucha Come From?

While we may never know exactly where kombucha first originated, the history we can trace is fascinating enough without adding myths.  The earliest plausible and reliable records we have point to Russia and Siberia, where чайный гриб was kept as a household ferment and passed between generations before spreading across Europe and eventually the rest of the world.

Some of the popular stories about kombucha's origins are intriguing, but many are based more on assumptions, similar names, or modern retellings than on historical evidence.  The real story is less mysterious, but perhaps more interesting: a simple fermented tea culture survived through ordinary households, was shared between families, and eventually became a global drink.

Kombucha's history is not a story of one famous inventor or a single moment of discovery.  It is the story of countless people keeping a living culture alive, generation after generation. 

Related Fermentation Articles:

Kombucha is just one example of a traditional ferment that has been passed between people for generations.  If you are interested in learning more about other ferments, how they are made, or how they can save you money, these articles may be useful:

Making kombucha at home - my simple, traditional, continuous brew recipe

The real cost of homemade kombucha - for me continuous brew costs under 20 cents per liter

Milk kefir history - the surprisingly fascinating history to this fermented milk

Milk kefir beginner guide - my simple beginner guide to milk kefir

Kefir vs filmjolk - which of these simple home ferments is easier for beginners

Kombucha for chickens - how this simple drink can introduce probiotics to your flock and possible benefits

Easy 2-Ingredient Buckwheat Sourdough Bread Without a Starter

 

My Simple Experiment Making Buckwheat Sourdough Bread with Two Ingredients and No Starter

You can make a simple buckwheat sourdough bread using only soaked buckwheat groats and home made active kombucha.  I tried it as an experiment and it fermented successfully without a traditional sourdough starter or commercial yeast.

Sometimes the best kitchen experiments start with a simple question.  I already had kombucha continuously brewing, a bag of buckwheat in the pantry, and I knew both kombucha and sourdough rely on live yeasts.  That got me wondering: could I make buckwheat sourdough bread using just those two ingredients?  There was only one way to find out.

In its simplest form, sourdough is a mix of yeasts that have partially digested some flour, and this mixture is baked to make bread.  

I then started thinking about the living cultures I keep that contain yeasts.  I make milk kefir, I have filmjölk, and I brew kombucha, two of which contain (among other things) many species of live yeasts.  While commercial baker's yeast is typically a single species, sourdough cultures often contain a diverse mix of wild yeasts and bacteria. 

At this point in time I am not loving wheat.  While I have had enough of wheat for now, I am particularly fond of buckwheat.  I eat buckwheat for breakfast every day.  I began to think if I have many species of living yeasts, and I have buckwheat, why not try to make sourdough buckwheat bread.

I figured I could get some buckwheat, mix with kombucha, make it into a dough, let it ferment for a while, and bake it into a sourdough bread.  Sounds simple enough, surely nothing much could go wrong.  Worst case scenario it would taste bad, and I would feed it to the chickens.

I gave making buckwheat sourdough bread a try, and it worked well.  I was almost surprised at how simple the process was and how good the bread turned out. 

Buckwheat sourdough bread

I Made Up My Own Recipe

After trying this I looked on the internet for sourdough buckwheat recipes.  In hind sight I should have looked for recipes first just in case this wasn't just common sense.  

It didn't matter too much in this case because it seems I was on the right track, there are a bunch of recipes on the internet that do pretty much what I tried.  

Sourdough certainly has its complexities, but for a simple loaf like this, common sense gets you surprisingly far.

Sourdough buckwheat bread - first attempt

My recipe did not make enough dough.  Given the size of my bread tin, it would have been better using 2 cups of buckwheat and 1 cup kombucha.  I also think had I left it to ferment longer it would have been fluffier.  Other than that, I could not be happier with this attempt.  

My super simple buckwheat sourdough recipe 

(next time I will double the ingredients).

Ingredients:

1 cup raw buckwheat groats 

1/2 cup kombucha liquid

Instructions:

1) Soak 1 cup raw buckwheat groats in water for 6 (or more) hours. 

2) Drain liquid, but do not rinse.

3) Put buckwheat through blender until it becomes liquidy.

4) Add 1/2 cup of kombucha liquid.  Blend until mixed together.

5) Put in something that is not metallic, cover to keep out insects but still lets in air.  Leave overnight to ferment.

6) Line a bread tin with baking paper.  Add the buckwheat / kombucha dough (this could be left to rise for fluffier bread).

7) Bake in oven around 180C for about an hour. 

Buckwheat kombucha slurry from step 5

This post contains affiliate links.  If you buy through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.  I only recommend products that I use myself or would happily use.

If you'd like to try this recipe yourself, you'll need raw buckwheat groats.  I am based in Australia and usually buy raw buckwheat groats because they work well for breakfasts, sprouting, and experiments like this sourdough bread.  

For US and international readers, these are the raw buckwheat groats I would recommend.  

You will also need active kombucha.  I used homemade kombucha from my continuous brew system, but any active, unflavoured kombucha should work.  

If you're interested in brewing your own, I explain the process in my continuous brew kombucha guide.  Making kombucha costs me under 20 cents per liter to make at home, so it is far more cost effective than buying it.

To brew kombucha, you will need active Kombucha SCOBY, I offer them when I have extra, and I can post throughout Australia.  If I don't have any I highly recommend Oliver's Kombucha available through Amazon.  

I also use a large glass beverage dispenser with a tap, which makes continuous brewing simple.  

For US and international readers, I can't post to you so I recommend this kombucha SCOBY on Amazon, opt for the smaller size as they are more cost effective and grow very fast.  For a glass dispenser with tap, I would recommend a dispenser such as this one. 

Ready for baking - I could have let it rise first

It had some bubbles, but would have been fluffier had I left it longer

The End Result Was Good

The bread looked nice, smelled ok, and tasted good.  

The bread it made was a bit thin as I did not use enough ingredients for the size of the bread pan.  It may have been even nicer if it was fluffier.  

You can see some little holes, these are from the bubbles while it fermented.  Had I left it in the bread tin for a few hours it would ferment more and be more fluffy.

Buckwheat sourdough loaf

It was so thin that it ended up looking more like brownies than bread.  As it was so thin, and looked like a brownie, I sliced it into little pieces instead of traditional bread slices.  This seemed to work well.

I put some butter between each of these little pieces.  The loaf was warm when I added butter, and it melted the butter into the bread.  Most of the butter was soaked into the bread.  I imagine this type of bread would work well with honey comb. 

I put butter between these slices and let it melt in to the bread

I had a little bread left over that I ate the next morning.  It may be my imagination,  but it seemed fluffier.  I liked it more the second day. 

Other than wanting to double the recipe as the loaf produced was too small, the only down side I can see to this recipe is the price.  It's too expensive to make this more than once in a while, especially if I use 2 cups of buckwheat. 

Buckwheat sourdough bread

Related Fermentation Articles

If you enjoy experimenting with fermented foods, you might also find these guides helpful:

• How to Make Filmjölk at Home - A simple guide to culturing Swedish fermented milk with just two ingredients
• Filmjölk vs Kefir - My comparison after making and drinking both regularly
• Making Milk Kefir at Home - Everything beginners need to know to keep healthy kefir grains.
• Farmer's Kefir Cheese (Tvorog) Recipe - A simple recipe to make Tvorog traditional farmer's cheese using milk kefir
• What Happens If You Ferment Filmjölk for 4 Weeks - my experiment pushing the limits of filmjölk 
• Two Ingredient Buckwheat Sourdough with Kefir  coming in August - My experience making gluten free sourdough using milk kefir and buckwheat

Final Thoughts

I thought it was good fun to make buckwheat sourdough bread.  Next time I will use milk kefir instead of kombucha, and see what that is like.  

I plan on making this again.  With a slightly larger batch and a longer second rise, I think it has the potential to become a really enjoyable homemade loaf.  Even if it never replaces everyday bread, it was a fun experiment and another reminder that fermentation often rewards curiosity.

Can Chickens Eat Kombucha SCOBY? Benefits, Probiotics, Safety & How I Feed Mine

Kombucha for Chickens: Benefits, Probiotics, How to Feed It, and My Experience

Yes.  Chickens can safely eat plain kombucha SCOBY and drink small amounts of homemade kombucha.  Research on poultry suggests fermented probiotics and organic acids can improve gut health and feed efficiency, and in my own flock I've found they happily eat old SCOBY pieces and tolerate diluted kombucha in their drinking water.

I make kombucha for myself and my family.  After brewing kombucha for years I wondered whether my chickens could benefit from it too.  I started adding small amounts to their water and feeding them old SCOBY pieces.  Here is what happened.

You should make kombucha (чайный гриб or chayniy grib) at home to drink and for your children to drink.  It is good for you, it is very cheap to make, and it is simple to maintain.  You may not know this, but you should also give some kombucha to your chickens.  Kombucha is good for chickens in many ways.  

Strangely, other than feeding chickens the old pellicles, I do not hear many reports of people giving kombucha to their hens.  Given all the health claims surrounding kombucha, and the abundance of studies on animals demonstrating kombucha's positive effects, along with all the other weird and wonderful things people feed to chickens that have any alleged health claims, I am surprised I don't hear of more people who fed kombucha to chickens.  

I tried to learn more about this, I looked at anecdotal evidence, I read studies not directly relating to kombucha that should correspond to the effects of feeding kombucha, and I read peer reviewed papers on feeding kombucha to hens.  After much reading, I also gave my hens some kombucha to see if this would be beneficial for them and save me some money.  

The results were interesting.  Research suggests that probiotics and organic acids can benefit poultry, and kombucha contains both, but there are fewer studies specifically looking at backyard hens drinking homemade kombucha.  My own experience has also been positive, so I wanted to share what I tried. 

Kombucha fermenting in a jar

Kombucha for Poultry: Anecdotal evidence 

While anecdotal evidence should not replace peer reviewed studies, it can be useful to hear what works, or does not work, for other people in a back yard situation where things are not necessarily ideal.  I found surprisingly few references to anyone attempting to feed kombucha to hens, but the few references I found were positive.  

I found one web page providing anecdotal evidence claiming that giving kombucha to chickens resulted in cleaner eggs and firmer poo.  They think this may be because the kombucha was helping the birds' digestive systems.  

The claims made on that web page are probably true.  This web page has nothing to gain by promoting kombucha, the claims all seem logical, and it existed prior to AI being a big thing (there are far too many pages of computer generated nonsense written by AI, and far too many people blindly thinking that this is worth reading).  

Some other people give fermented feed to chickens and claim it improves their overall health.  While I am unsure if fermented feed has ever been studied, or if there are any benefits from feeding fermented feed, it is often claimed to be beneficial by backyard chicken owners.  Kombucha, being fermented tea, contains a lot of species of bacteria and yeast, many of which are used in fermenting other things.  Anecdotally we should be able to draw some comparisons between kombucha and fermented feed.  

Some people feed apple cider vinegar to chickens to 'acidify their crop', boost immunity, and build their general health.  Again I am unsure of the results of any studies into these benefits, but there is plenty anecdotal evidence suggesting that this is possibly beneficial.  Kombucha is similar to apple cider vinegar in many ways, and can be used to produce a kind of vinegar.  As apple cider vinegar and kombucha are similar in many ways, any benefits from feeding apple cider vinegar would likely also be seen through feeding kombucha.  

I found a few permaculture sites claiming kombucha to naturally de-worm their hens.  I have serious doubts over this claim, and fear it may be rhetoric by people who are simply wishing really hard.  While I don't believe that feeding kombucha to hens can be used to deworm them, kombucha will enhance their immune system (I explain this below), so it may provide some slight resistance to parasitic worms. 

To add to the anecdotal evidence, I fed some kombucha to my hens.  I added the liquid to their drinking water.  They appeared to have firmer poo for some time.  I also fed them some of the old biofilm, again it appeared to stop them doing sloppy poo for some time.  I have done this multiple times, and each time it goes well. 

Anecdotally, feeding kombucha to laying hens should prove beneficial.

Kombucha liquid and biofilm - both great for laying hens

Studies on poultry not directly on kombucha

While these studies did not address kombucha directly, the results should be applicable to feeding kombucha as it shares similarities to the things that were being studied.  

Many studies state that certain probiotics improve layer hen performance - number of eggs laid, egg quality, and the immune function of laying hens.  The probiotics in the below studies include some of the many species that are present in kombucha, so while they are not directly studying kombucha, there is a high chance the results will be applicable to feeding kombucha to chickens.  

Various studies in broiler chickens found that adding kombucha to drinking water improved protein digestibility and growth performance.

One study demonstrates that feeding probiotics, prebiotics, and organic acids results in increased egg production, increased egg quality, and better feed conversion ratio.  Kombucha contains all of these probiotics, prebiotics, and a range of organic acids.  Some of the organic acids in kombucha are produced early, while others are not produced until around day 21 onwards.  Making kombucha using continuous brew is the simplest method, plus it ensures that a wide array of organic acids will be present in every batch.  

One study demonstrated that feeding probiotics such as Lactobacillus salivarius and Bacillus subtilis increased egg numbers, decreased damaged egg ratio, and improved feed conversion.  This study should correlate to kombucha as the probiotic species in the study are among those present in kombucha.  The study tested blood samples and indicated that these probiotics enhances the immune function of hens.  It was also noted that feeding multiple probiotic strains had a greater effect than feeding single strains.  Kombucha has been demonstrated to contain a wide variety of probiotics, with around 320 different species of bacteria and yeast being present in some samples.  Given that multiple strains provided more benefit than single strains, it is safe to assume that kombucha would perform as well as, if not better than, the few strains that were used in this study. 

There are various probiotics commercially available for poultry, many do not contain living probiotics and would be better referred to as 'parabiotics'.  There are also various organic acid supplements commercially available for poultry.  There have been multiple studies backing up claims that these improve layer efficiency.  Not surprisingly, few home growers use any of these as they are too expensive.  Making kombucha at home is far far cheaper than buying commercially available probiotics or supplements, plus it has real potential to reduce your costs.  

Based on the studies into probiotics and organic acids above, feeding kombucha to hens should prove to be beneficial. 

Kombucha SCOBY for chickens

Studies on poultry that do directly study kombucha

There are a lot of animal studies regarding the health benefits of kombucha.  Strangely I could not find any papers testing egg laying performance in hens.  That being said, there are plenty of studies on feed conversion and growth rates etc in broiler hens and Japanese quail.  All of the studies I read indicate feeding kombucha to hens is beneficial in a variety of ways. 

One study concluded that adding kombucha to chicken's drinking water increased protein digestibility, and exhibits growth promoting effects similar to antibiotics.  I find this study fascinating as similar claims are often made about apple cider vinegar, yet I have not heard of any home grower making these claims about kombucha even though it has been demonstrated in published papers.  

Another study noted giving kombucha to hens resulted in improved feed conversion ratio in broilers, and increased protein digestibility.  They concluded the best growth promoting effect in broilers was with the addition of 6 ml fermented kombucha per 100ml water.  If I fill up the water each day, this would only cost me a few cents, yet it has the ability to reduce feed costs through improving the feed conversion ratio.  Again, I find it odd that a published paper makes this conclusion, yet I rarely hear of anyone feeding kombucha to their backyard hens.  

There do not appear to be any studies on kombucha and its impacts or lack there of on egg laying in hens.  This is odd as there are many studies demonstrating that feeding organic acids and probiotics (both of which are present in kombucha) improve laying performance and egg quality, plus there are studies on the effects of feeding kombucha and the feed conversion rates in broilers.  

Most of the studies I found were about fed conversion ratio and growth rate of broilers, and I found a few studies on growth rate of Japanese quail.  All came to the same conclusions that kombucha resulted in improved growth rates, increased live weight, and increased carcass weight.  All of this is very good, I want my hens to have good weight and good feed conversion as this lowers my feed bill.

I also find it odd that there are proven benefits associated with feeding kombucha to poultry, yet I don't hear of any permaculture institutes encouraging the feeding of kombucha to poultry.  Kombucha is so cheap and simple to make, and these benefits are well worth the effort.

All of the studies into feeding kombucha to hens indicate that it is beneficial to them.  

This ferments in my garage, and is fed to hens

Frequently Asked Questions About Kombucha for Chickens

Is kombucha safe for chickens?

Yes.  Small amounts of homemade kombucha appears to be tolerated well by my chickens.  Kombucha contains fermented microorganisms and organic acids, which are also found in many other fermented foods.  As with any new food, it is best to introduce it gradually and observe how your birds respond.

Kombucha should not replace a balanced poultry diet, fresh water, or normal chicken care.  I consider it a fermented supplement rather than a necessary part of their diet.

How much kombucha can chickens drink?

I do not give my chickens unlimited kombucha.  I add a small amount to their water or offer it separately rather than making it their only source of drinking water.

When introducing any fermented product, start with a small quantity and increase only if your chickens continue to drink normally and appear healthy.

Can chickens eat kombucha SCOBY?

Yes. Chickens can eat pieces of kombucha biofilm (the thick cellulose culture that forms during brewing).  

I only offer it as a treat rather than a main food source.  Chickens enjoy investigating unusual foods, and fermented scraps can be a useful way to reduce household waste.

Does kombucha improve egg production?

Studies indicate that it will.  I have not used kombucha as a way to increase egg production, and I would not expect it to overcome issues such as age, breed, daylight hours, nutrition, or health problems.

The possible benefit of fermented foods is more likely related to supporting a healthy gut environment rather than acting as a direct egg-producing supplement.

Can I give chickens store-bought kombucha?

I have only experimented with homemade kombucha.  Many commercial kombuchas contain added flavours, sweeteners, or other ingredients that may not be suitable for chickens, plus it can be expensive.

If offering kombucha, homemade kombucha with no added flavourings is the type I would choose.  This is also far more cost effective than store bought.

Can I ferment chicken feed with kombucha?

Yes.  Kombucha can be used as part of some fermented feeding experiments, but it is different from simply adding a small amount of kombucha to water or offering SCOBY as a treat.

If experimenting with fermented feed, make changes slowly and make sure chickens still have access to their normal balanced feed.

Can ducks or quail eat kombucha SCOBY?

Yes.  All species of poultry can eat kombucha SCOBY, and studies indicate they benefit from drinking the liquid.  There are many studies on the benefits of Kombucha to quail.  Most ducks gladly eat kombucha SCOBY and it is beneficial to them.    

How to feed kombucha to backyard hens

Now you know that feeding kombucha to hens is beneficial, the natural question to ask is how do you feed it to them.  There are a few easy and cheap ways you could give kombucha to your hens.  

First, don't buy kombucha, make your own at home.  Buying kombucha would be expensive and pointless, making it at home is simple and only costs a few cents per litre.  

One of the important parts of kombucha is the SCOBY, this is the live Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeasts.  Kombucha pellicle/biofilm contains a lot of live scoby, kombucha liquid also contains a lot of live scoby.  Feeding either works well and both are readily accepted by hens.  

I brew kombucha in my kitchen for people to drink.  I have a few jars brewing at any point in time so I normally have spare culture.  I don't have extra space in the house to brew kombucha for my chickens, so I also keep a few jars of it in the garage that I use for the chickens.  These are the same as the ones inside the house, but the ones in the garage are in large jars without taps and get refilled far less often.  

As kombucha brews, it produces a biofilm or 'pellicle' - this is the jelly fish looking thing that floats on the liquid.  When you continuous brew, each time you refill the kombucha jar it produces another layer of biofilm.  You can remove and cut up the old biofilms, and feed them to hens.  This will provide the hens with live probiotics, various organic acids, small amounts of vitamins, various antioxidants, and other beneficial nutrients.  The hens will gladly eat this if it is cut up, and some hens happily eat it if left as a disk.  

How Much Kombucha Should Chickens Drink?

The research that produced the best results used approximately 60 ml kombucha per litre of drinking water.

An easy way to give kombucha to hens is to include the liquid in their drinking water.  60ml kombucha per liter of water has been concluded as having the greatest benefits, plus it is simple to administer.  Tipping around 180ml of kombucha into a 3L waterer and topping up with water isn't difficult.  Given that this does not need to be very accurate, I measured it the first few times to get an idea of how much they need, and tend to just eyeball the amount now.  Importantly, 180ml of home made kombucha will cost you less than 5 cents.  Even if this results in one more egg being laid each week by your flock, you will have saved money.  

Another, possible simpler, way to give kombucha to hens is to add some liquid to their feed.  If feeding pellets or grains, you can add a slosh of kombucha liquid and mix it in.  This is not uniform, some days you would add more, others less, the greedier hens would eat most while the more timid would get less (or none), but it would still be beneficial to the flock as a whole, and it will end up saving you money.  

I top this up every few weeks and it is thriving long term

Where to get kombucha to feed to hens

Don't buy kombucha from the supermarket, that would be expensive and counter productive when the aim is to reduce your costs.  Get a kombucha starter culture, then you make it at home very cheap.  

Getting a kombucha starter culture is easy.  Some people make their own starter using store bought, while this kind of works the diversity of living cultures tends to be low in store bought and people who do this regularly encounter issues.  You are better off sourcing one that has been grown at home for some time.    

I sell home-grown kombucha starter cultures from the same continuous brew system I use through my for sale blog page.    

Once you have a starter culture, making kombucha is very simple, it takes next to no time, it never goes wrong if you use the traditional continuous brewing method, and it costs less than 15 cents to brew each litre.  You won't need to spend much to get continuous brew kombucha set up.  The starter culture should not be expensive, a large jar is generally free, and you can ladle out the liquid and remove the old biofilm as wanted.  

Once you have a large jar and a kombucha culture you make continuous brew kombucha, this is the traditional way and is the simplest way.  I wrote a blog post with simple continuous brew kombucha instructions that really can't go wrong.  After that, your feed costs are reduced, and your hens are a little healthier.  

The strainer keeps out bugs and lets in air

How Much Does Homemade Kombucha Really Cost? (Less Than 20c Per Litre)

Home made kombucha (which is often called чайный гриб, pronounced: chaynyy grib) and store bought are two very different things.  The diversity of live cultures, the numbers of culture forming units, as well as the presence of organic acids, can be far higher in home made. 

Store bought can be pasturised (ie the beneficial microbes are dead), or filtered (removing some of the larger microbiota), and more often than not it is unripe and does not contain the full range of beneficial organic acids and other substances that kombucha can produce.  While live microbes are likely beneficial, the organic acids are probably the healthiest part of kombucha.  Store bought often is often higher in sugar, and can have various other additives that I don't want to drink. 

The stuff you get in a can or bottle in the shops if often so under-ripe that it contains few organic acids, and has a low concentration of the few acids it does contain.  The stuff from the shops would probably be better described as 'kombucha flavoured ice tea'.  

While store bought probably isn't bad, comparing the two would be like comparing apple juice with apple flavoured sugary cordial.  While not the greatest analogy, you get the idea.  

Now that I've said not to compare them, I am going to do exactly that.  I am going to compare home made kombucha with store bought kombucha.  I am not comparing flavour, or health benefits, or presence of live cultures, or number of colony forming units, or presence of organic acids, or any other nutrient, I will be comparing the price of home made kombucha with the price of store bought kombucha.  

This post contains affiliate links.  I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Kombucha looks like a jellyfish in a jar

My kids and I go through a lot of kombucha over summer, sometimes less and sometimes more over winter.  I could not afford to buy kombucha flavoured drinks from the store, but can I can easily afford to make kombucha at home.  Making kombucha at home is cheap, really cheap.  

I make continuous brew kombucha.  This is the easiest and safest method.  I don't add any flavouring or do a second ferment because I like the taste of raw kombucha.  Making kombucha is simple and it never goes wrong if you do it the traditional way.  If you can boil water, you can make чайный гриб the traditional way.  

Traditional continuous brew чайный гриб

Price of store bought kombucha

The price of store bought kombucha is strangely a difficult thing to find.  Most shops sell a weird and wonderful array of drinks with amazing sounding flavourings that may or may not taste like kombucha, and may only have a small percentage of kombucha in the final product.  Some are high in sugar, others have non-sugar sweeteners added, some pasturise it and then add one species of probiotic of so they can claim it is a probiotic drink.  I assume store bought kombucha are similar to the wonderful array of ice tea that is sold in supermarkets.  They are expensive, and some sound utterly delicious, but I have never tried them.  

I looked around and the price of supermarket kombucha varies wildly.  I considered trying to find raw kombucha and comparing those prices, but raw unflavoured kombucha is difficult to find and seems to often cost more than the flavoured kinds.  I think the most sensible way to compare prices is if I found a few places that sell kombucha, and then listed their cheapest variety (whether it was flavoured or not).  I decided to use the cheapest unit price as this is most easily comparable even when they have different size bottles or cans.  

The cheapest I could find in Coles was $6.35 per litre.  The cheapest I could find in Woolworths was $8.80 per litre.  The cheapest I could find in Harris Farm Market is $15.12 per liter.  If we average out the two lowest ones (and ignore the higher one), this gives a rough idea of the price per litre of about $7.57 per litre.  

It is noteworthy that there were plenty of places selling kombucha flavoured drinks for a lot higher prices than these.  Some of the micro breweries charged prices so high that they make me consider quitting my day job and becoming a full time kombucha maker.  But I digress.  

Kombucha biofilm looks unappetising

The True Price of Home Made Kombucha

I make continuous brew kombucha.  For me it costs under $0.15 per litre.

Given the price at the supermarket is around 50 times more expensive, the cost of making it at home seems so low that it seems hard to believe.  I will break down the cost below so you can see I am not making this sound cheaper than it really is.  If anything I am rounding up.

I make continuous brew kombucha using this simple recipe,  I have this in a glass jar with a line that I drew on the jar.  We drink чайный гриб, once the liquid drops to the line on the side of my jar I add 2 litres of cool sweetened tea.  I use 2 litres as that is the amount of water my kettle holds.  It is very simple, the time and effort needed per batch is negligible. 

Let's add these costs up so you can see the the total comes in slightly under 15 cents per litre. 

I use 1/2 cup white sugar (about 110 grams) which costs ~14 cents to make 2 litres of kombucha, or just over 7 cents per litre.

Tea bags costs about 2 cents per bag, I use 2 or 3 teabags to make 2 litres of kombucha, or about 3 cents per litre.

Cost of electricity to boil kettle 5-6 cents for a 2 litre kettle, or about 3 cents per litre.

Total: Around 26 cents per 2 litre batch of sweet tea, or around 13 cents per litre of kombucha.  

Kombucha is very cheap to make at home

Once off costs of making Kombucha

There are some one off costs that are not factored in above.  You likely already own a kettle and a measuring cup so I won't go into the price of buying new ones.  Perhaps you want to buy a jar with a tap? 

You don't need thermometers, you don't need heaters or a warm spot in your house, you don't need special sterilisation equipment, you don't need pH test kits.  I never use any of these things, and I never had a batch that failed.  Remember, countless generations of people brewed kombucha in Siberia without issue and they certainly didn't have comfortably warm houses, or (until the 1950s or 1960s) electricity, or use anything fancy.  

I found an 8L jar with tap at Amazon which look pretty much perfect.  It looks nice, and comes with a great little stand.

Alternatively, you could get two smaller jars, so one can be brewing while the other is ready for drinking.

Traditionally, no one had a jar with a tap so babushkas would ladle kombucha out of the jar and give it to members of the household to drink.  Perhaps you already have a large jar that lacks a tap, and can just buy a ladle to get the liquid out, in which case this would be even cheaper.  I like the look of these wine ladles, they have that cool vintage look that goes well with home fermentations.

If you really want to measure the temperature, these thermometer strips are accurate, simple to use, and cost effective.

Another one off cost is the kombucha scoby/culture.  For a beginner, I suggest buying a kombucha SCOBY from Oliver's.  They are high quality, very simple to use, and come from a very reputable company.  

Some beginners prefer to start with a ready made kombucha kit.  While I am not a fan of most kombucha kits (for various reasons mostly to do with low quality SCOBYs), I would highly recommend this kombucha kit which contains everything you need to get started apart from the jar.  

My little monster in a jar

As mentioned above, I normally make чайный гриб in a large jar that has a tap.  I also make small jar batches as back up cultures in case my large jar breaks or gets knocked over or something.  I sometimes sell kombucha scoby (which is living in the pellicle with some starter tea) through my for sale page.  The scoby I sell is from these smaller batches, it has one (or more) biofilm that is about 10cm across and about a cup of starter liquid.  This is more than enough to make 2 litres of kombucha.  Once you have the scoby/culture you can keep it going indefinitely.  

If you like kombucha, it is well worth making some at home.  Making kombucha at home takes next to no time or effort, and is so easy it is difficult for anything to go wrong.  Given how cheap it is to make at home, even if you need to buy a scoby and a jar it only takes a few liters until you are well and truly ahead financially, plus you have control over the ingredients that are added.  

Continuous Brew Kombucha Recipe (Simple Method That Never Fails)

Very simple Kombucha (чайный гриб) continuous brew recipe 

I wrote an earlier blog post on kombucha SCOBY and described what a scoby is compared to the pellicle and starter liquid.  That post started to get a little long so I decided to stop there and write a separate post on the kombucha recipe we use.  

There are plenty of kombucha recipes on the internet.  They pretty much all work because it is actually hard to go wrong brewing kombucha when you use both pellicle and starter liquid.  Making kombucha at home is simple and cheap.  

I am not suggesting that the way I brew kombucha is the best way to do it, or even a good way to do it, I am only saying it is simple and it never goes wrong.  This blog post is partly a way for me to record this in case I ever forget how to do this in the future. 

Continuous brew чайный гриб

I tend to do continuous brew rather than messing around with batches and bottling and using fridge space.  Continuous brew works for me, and it never goes wrong.  I don't even see how it could go wrong.  Plus it takes very little time and effort. 

Some people prefer batch brewing.  I hear about these going wrong from time to time.  I can't offer any advice on batch brewing or adding flavouring to kombucha, because I don't do any of that.  

Continuous brew and batch brew are both good methods, which one to use is more about personal preference than anything else.  The scoby likely doesn't care if you do continuous brew or batch brew, you could try both and see what you prefer.  

Kombucha ready to drink

Kombucha looks like beer or apple cider

I have a large glass jar with a tap.  This jar contains one or more pellicles and plenty of finished kombucha/starter liquid.  

I drew two lines on the jar, one at 4 liters, the other at 6 liters.  I fill it up to the 6L line, we drink it as wanted and I refill it once it drops to the 4L line.  

It is simple, and a little inconsistent, but can never fail unless there is some mechanical failure such as the jar gets smashed or the tap falls out.  

I don't put the lid on the jar as the scoby needs some air.  Instead I tend to keep a cloth on top of the jar, this keeps out insects and dust.  I used to hold the cloth on with a rubber band, but stopped bothering with that a few years ago and the cloth just sitting on top does the trick.  

Continuous brew чайный гриб recipe

Once we drink enough that the liquid drops to the 4L line I fill it with sweet tea that has cooled.  Never use hot tea as this will kill (or at least damage) the scoby. 

1. I have about 4L of kombucha liquid in my jar.
2. I boil 2L of water, add 1/2 cup white sugar, and 2 or 3 tea bags.  I mostly use regular black tea bags, but sometimes also include a bag of green tea.  
3. I let this steep for about 5 to 15 minutes, then remove the tea bags.  
4. I let this cool to room temperature.  
5. Once cooled I pour this sweet tea in my jar that already has kombucha mentioned in step 1.  It is ready to drink in a few days (or immediately if you prefer it sweeter).  

Let me stress that I always allow it to cool before adding it to my jar, never add this when still hot or it will kill the scoby.  

Some people use more sugar while others use less sugar, some people use more tea bags others use less tea bags.  Sometimes I use some black tea and include some green tea, other times I only use black tea.  I use tea bags so I don't have to strain out any leaves, using loose leaf tea would also be fine as long as you can strain out the leaves.  

If I go away for a while I just fill up the jar and it is fine when I return.  I don't have a lid on my jar so there is no risk of building too much pressure.  The contents of the jar are too acidic for most pathogens to survive, so there is no danger there.  A pantry moth or something could get in and I would have to deal with that, but that wouldn't ruin my culture and would be simple enough to deal with.

Continuous brew kombucha simply works.  You can't really go wrong as long as you let the tea cool before adding to the jar and the scoby is strong.  It doesn;t matter if your house is too cold, the continuous brew will never fail.  

Continuous brew kombucha, I keep a cloth on top 

My jar already has a pellicle, and 4L or so of starter, so it brews quickly and is ready to drink in next to no time.  I hear of other people having to wait two weeks before their brew is ready, they tend to use significantly less starter liquid than I do (or they made their starter using store bought kombucha).  I hear of other people having issues with mold when the temperature is too low, again they use far less starter liquid than I do and they usually do not also include the biofilm. 

Sometimes when we are drinking a lot of kombucha this drops a bit below the 4L line before I have a chance to refill it, that doesn't really matter.  Other times I refill before it reaches the line, again this doesn't really matter.  Over summer it brews a lot faster, over winter it brews far slower.  This is not a precise science, and it never goes wrong.  

Most recipes suggest adding a pellicle and 10% starter liquid to 90% tea, this works but is a lot slower than how I do it.  I use about 66% starter liquid and about 33% sweet tea, and it brews very fast.  We tend to drink some kombucha most days, so want to fill my jar and have it ready to drink as soon as possible.  Sometimes my kids drink it as soon as I filled it, I prefer to wait a few days as I like the sharper taste.

It usually has more bubbles

While my method may not be the best way to brew kombucha, the fact that I can keep a continuous brew going like this for a few years is testament to the fact that this method is working.  Perhaps there are better methods, but this works for me, and it is so simple and cheap. 

If you have a kombucha recipe that is different, and it works for you, please keep using it.  If you try one recipe and don't love it, then change it and try something different.  There are many websites out there with 'tricks' and kombucha 'hacks', but you don't need them as they generally overcomplicate things and introduce a lot of ways to fail.  One of the best parts of kombucha is nothing is precise, and you really can't fail.  

If you are new to brewing kombucha, it is difficult for anything to go wrong if you brew using both pellicle and starter liquid.  Some people discard the pellicle from every batch, which kind of works for them, but when first learning how to do this it is best to use the traditional method by including the pellicle as well as the starter liquid.  

чайный гриб has been brewed by people at home since at least the 1800s, it is simple, and it is inexpensive.  I have never used a heat mat, I don't have a thermometer, I don't measure the pH, nothing is overly precise, and nothing ever goes wrong.  At worst I leave it too long before drinking and it tastes a little too sour for my liking.  

If you want to try brewing kombucha at home, you could try using unflavoured kombucha from the shops.  This will likely have a significantly lower number of strains and you can't be certain it has not been pasturised (killing many of the bacteria and yeasts) prior to sale.  You are better off finding someone who brews kombucha and buying a scoby (not just a pellicle) from them.  If you can't find any locally, and you are located in Australia, my contact details can be found on my for sale page.  

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Edit to add: above I mention having the two lines on my jar.  I would make 2L sweetened tea and once it has cooled I would add it when the liquid in my kombucha jar dropped to the 4L line.  

Over summer we drank a lot of kombucha.  The jar is large, so I started adding 2L of sweetened tea once the liquid dropped to the 6L line.  

This means I have 8L total in the jar: 6L starter and 2L of new sweet tea.  This works even better, and now the brewing time is shorter.  

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Edit to also add: I also had someone ask why I add 2L of sweetened tea each time.  The answer is simple: my kettle holds 2L of water.  No need to make things harder than they need to be. 

While washing the dishes after dinner I boil the kettle, put sugar and tea bags in a jug, and tip in the kettle of boiled water.  I then wash up the dishes while the tea steeps.  I remove the tea bags when I finish washing the dishes, and then go do something else (ie allow the tea to cool).  Before I go to bed I tip the cooled tea into my kombucha jar.  

Making kombucha is simple, there is no need to even pretend it is difficult.