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All the flavors of spiced chai tea, packed into a bottle of fizzy fermented kombucha!
We love chai around here. And we also love kombucha. But sadly, the two don’t play well together.
Despite chai being a type of tea that you might drink, it does not work well for brewing the first fermentation of kombucha. The oils and antimicrobial properties found in the flavorings could put your whole kombucha operation (namely the SCOBY) at risk.
However, you can use chai spices to flavor the second fermentation, which is what we’ll be doing here! We’re taking all the classic flavors used to create Indian chai, and throwing them into our second fermentation. Let’s brew!
There are two main fermentation phases when making homemade kombucha:
- First Fermentation: This is when you transform sweet tea into tart and delicious kombucha (see our guide to homemade kombucha here).
- Second Fermentation: This is when you carbonate the kombucha by adding flavors and sugars and bottling it.
In order to make this Chai Spiced Kombucha, you will need to have completed the first fermentation and have some kombucha that’s ready to be carbonated!
Ingredients for Chai Spiced Kombucha
- Kombucha: You have brewed your kombucha in the first fermentation and are ready to flavor it (first fermentation instructions here).
- Dry Spices: We’ll use the spices that most define your favorite cup of chai tea – cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and allspice.
- Flavor Enhancers: Round out the flavors with fresh ginger (which also help improve fizziness) and vanilla extract.
- Sugar: A spoonful of brown sugar will help carbonate the kombucha. While you shouldn’t use sugar-alternatives here, you can substitute honey, maple syrup, or white sugar if desired.
How to make chai kombucha
As far as homemade kombucha flavors go, this one is pretty easy! You’ll just bottle everything together and let it ferment until fizzy.
- Bottle: Evenly distribute all spices, ginger, vanilla, and sugar into fermentation bottles. Pour in kombucha, leaving 1 to 2 inches free at the top
- Ferment: For 3 to 10 days, until it reaches the carbonation level you like.
- Enjoy: Chill in the fridge before serving, straining out the spices right before serving.
Chai Spice Kombucha
Ingredients
- ½ gallon kombucha from a first fermentation this is not store bought kombucha, 1.9 L
- 4 whole cloves
- 2 cardamom pods
- 2 allspice berries
- 1 medium cinnamon stick
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Bottle: Evenly divide spices into your bottles (if needed, break or crush the spices into roughly equally sized pieces to divide into your bottles – I use 2 quart-sized bottles and simply broke the cinnamon stick in half). Add sugar, ginger, and vanilla. Pour in kombucha, leaving 1 to 2 inches free at the top
- Ferment: For 3 to 10 days, until it reaches the carbonation level you like.
- Enjoy: Chill in the fridge, straining out the spices right before serving.
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Would ground allspice be an alternative to use for this recipe? If you’ve tried it, how much is a good amount?
You could use ground! I’d use 1/4 to 1/2 tsp.
I have a jar of ground chai spice mix, can I just use that instead of the individual whole spices?
Yep, that should work! 😀
Do you use black or green cardamom pods for this? Thanks!
I used green!