Kombucha - Getting a Colony/Scoby

Getting a kombucha colony can be infuriating if you are excited to brew kombucha at home. In fact, it can be the hardest and most expensive part. Luckily, there are resources online that may help you. Since colonies can be propagated with each new batch of kombucha that you brew, you need only find someone else who is already brewing and ask for a spare colony. Locating someone online is often the best method for this, and craigslist or other forums usually have 1-2 people in most areas willing to give them away.

Another option is to mail order one. Mail order scobys are generally of the highest quality, though they are often slightly shocked during transport. Mail order colonies should be used immediately to prevent them from going dormant in the packaging. Your first batch with a mail order scoby may take a bit longer or be off-tasting, but within 3 batches the taste normalizes and you will be very satisfied with the result. My first kombbucha scoby took only one extra day to produce a full batch and was perfect.

Finally, you can grow your own scoby. Colonies will reproduce almost spontaneously from even residual live kombucha bacteria and yeasts. With a sample of plain unpasteurized kombucha, even from the grocery store, you can start a new colony by simply adding it to tea brewed according to the basic recipe. It will probably take 3-4 weeks to get the scoby, so be patient. It will start as a thin film, but my healthiest kombucha colony was generated in just this fashion and I cannot recognize the difference between my mail order colony and the homegrown one.