Coffee Kombucha

It’s International Coffee day and we thought what best to talk about but coffee kombucha! 

Coffee kombucha as the name suggests is kombucha made with coffee instead of the usual tea base. It was born from experiments at the Noma restaurant in Copenhagen and this variation of booch is growing in popularity, as a fantastic gut healthy caffeine boost its easy to see why!

Taken separately both coffee and kombucha have a lot to offer in the way of health benefits.
Aside from the caffeine, coffee delivers your body nutrients, antioxidants and that boost of energy to start your day. Kombucha’s purported benefits include strengthening the immune system, improving digestion and reducing blood pressure. So a combination of the two seems to be the perfect partnership for those looking for a healthy brew.

We started looking into coffee kombucha as a way to utilise waste coffee grounds after being approached by local coffee shop, Coffi based in Liverpool city centre. As with all ferments there is an element of chaos and the flavour combination of waste grounds was consistently unpredictable and sadly this project was put on the back burner as both our businesses grew.

More recently we brewed some coffee kombucha whilst running our crowdfunder campaign, creating a collaborative one off reward with our local roasters Neighbourhood coffee, selecting the perfect roast of coffee for our kombucha. We still have the last few bottles of this on our shop and would love to brew another batch soon. 

If you wanted to brew your own coffee kombucha at home, you would need a few bits of equipment. Firstly a large fermenting vessel, a 5L water glass style jar with a metal tap (not plastic!) is your best option and can be picked up fairly easily, Some cheesecloth, a large stock pot and a metal strainer or sieve are all useful here. If you are saving your waste coffee grounds you will need to keep them in a sealed container big enough to hold 1kg of coffee in the fridge until you brew.

Coffee Kombucha Recipe

• 240g of golden granulated sugar
• 76L of water
• 730g of leftover coffee grounds or 200g fresh
• 200g unpasteurised kombucha
• A SCOBY

1. Bring the sugar and 240ml of the water to a boil in a medium pot, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Meanwhile, put the coffee grounds in another pot. Pour the hot syrup over the coffee, then add the remaining 1.52L water. Let the coffee mixture cool to room temperature, cover, and transfer to the fridge to infuse overnight. 
   
   
2. The following day, strain the coffee liquid through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth into the fermentation vessel. Backslop* the infusion by stirring in the 200 grams unpasteurized kombucha. Wearing gloves, carefully place the SCOBY into the liquid. Cover the top of the fermentation vessel with cheesecloth or a breathable kitchen towel and secure it with a rubber band. Label the kombucha and set it in a warm place.
   
   
3. Leave the kombucha to ferment, tracking its progress each day. Make sure the top of the SCOBY doesn’t dry out; use a ladle to moisten it with some of the liquid, if necessary. Once you’re happy with the flavor of your kombucha—probably between 7 and 10 days from the start—transfer the SCOBY to a container for storage and strain the kombucha.
   Consume immediately or refrigerate, freeze, or bottle it.

*Backslop is the term for adding pre brewed kombucha cultures into your brew, you can use any bottle of our kombucha for this as ours are always live and unpasteurised. 

Coffee kombucha can be drank over ice for a refreshing alternative to your morning brew, we recommend around 100ml a day, if you haven’t tried kombucha before, use moderation and stop if you have any ill effects, bloating or excess wind.

It can be used in an espresso martini in place of the shot of espresso to add a tangy coffee kick to any standard cocktail recipe. Similarly it can be used in a tiramisu to replace the shot of coffee traditionally used to soak the ladyfingers. Tiramisu being so rich and sweet with the cream, the sharp vibrant kick of coffee kombucha serves as the perfect contrast.

Noma suggest using it to glaze parsnips for the perfect autumn side to any main meal.

“Let’s say you’ve got a pan of peeled and quartered parsnips, caramelising gently in foaming butter on the stove. Two minutes before removing them from the pan, throw in a sprig each of sage and thyme, turn up the heat a bit, and deglaze with about 120ml coffee kombucha. Swirl the pan, paying attention as the mixture thickens and begins to stick to the parsnips. At the last minute, add a big spoonful of butter and allow it to melt and glaze the parsnips. Remove from the pan and finish with a sprinkling of smoked salt.”

As ever if you have any questions, please get in touch and if you make your own coffee kombucha please tag us in any photos.

 Thanks for reading and lets get fermenting!