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Light, effervescent, sweet and slightly sour. Probiotic Jun Tea is my favorite probiotic drink made with raw honey and green tea. I switched to Jun Tea and stopped making kombucha months ago, because honey is healthier than sugar and I prefer the lighter flavor of Jun Tea.
What is Jun Tea?
June Tea is a fermented green tea made with honey and is cultured using a SCOBY. It differs from Kombucha in that it uses green tea and honey instead of black tea and sugar, it takes less time to ferment than Kombucha and the flavor is distinctly different. It’s much lighter, less sour and more bubbly.
What is a SCOBY?
SCOBY is short for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. It’s shaped like a disc, whitish brown and kind of rubbery and slimey. Sounds appetizing, huh? It’s absolutely necessary to make Jun Tea.
I purchased my SCOBY from Kombucha Kamp. They have high quality, live SCOBY’s and I always have success with their cultures.
Health benefits of Jun Tea
Hannah Crum, “The Kombucha Mamma”, explains some of the health benefits:
- Contains living bacteria and yeast
- Acts as a snack or pre-meal hunger control
- Alkalizes like vinegar or lemon juice – balances internal pH
- May speed metabolism
- The acids present may improve digestion or alleviate constipation
- Relieve headaches & migraines
- 1 Jun SCOBY I buy mine here
- 4 teaspoons of loose leaf green tea. (I use Kombucha Kamp's Green Goddess tea blend)
- 1 cup raw honey
- 16 cups purified water
- 1 cup Jun tea from previous batch (comes with your SCOBY for your first brew)
- 1 gallon glass jar
- 1 rubber band
- 1 square cloth to cover the jar (I use old pillow cases and cut out my own jar covers)
- Bring 2-4 cups of water to a boil in a tea kettle.
- Pour the hot water over the tea in a pitcher and let the tea steep for 15 minutes.
- Strain the tea with a fine mesh strainer into the jar and add the raw honey.
- Stir until honey dissolves.
- Let the tea cool to room temperature or add the rest of the purified water to the jar, leaving about 2 inches of room at the top. This will cool down the tea quicker.
- Add 1 cup of Jun tea from a previous batch or the starter tea that came with the SCOBY.
- Add the SCOBY to the tea.
- Cover the jar with a cotton cloth and secure with a rubber band.
- Place in a cool, dark place on your counter.
- Taste test after 3 days. It should smell a little sweet and faintly sour. If you like the taste, bottle it up and make a new batch or leave it out a few more days. The longer you ferment it, the more sour it will become.
- Bottle the Jun tea in flip-top bottles and set out on the counter for 2 more days to get bubbly.
- Store it in the fridge and start a new batch.
It's normal for a new SCOBY to sink to the bottom or float in the jar. A new SCOBY will eventually form on the surface of the tea.
If you want a probiotic drink that’s light, refreshing, and bubbly with tons of health benefits you have to try Jun Tea. If you have questions about making Jun Tea leave them in the comments below.
Happy Fermenting!
Danielle
Hi! Danielle,please tell me what makes it better than ordinary kombucha? I understand that the honey may be better than processed cane or other sugars, but if the good bacteria eats and transforms the sugar into beneficial organisms, won’t honey also be consumed when fermented? Is the chemistry different with honey? Or, is just for the taste that you changed to Jun? Norma
Hi Norma, Not all the sugar or honey gets consumed by the bacteria. It would need to taste like vinegar to be all consumed. I like it to be a little sweet, so I rather have honey sweetened rather than sugar sweetened. Plus I prefer the lighter flavor of Jun.
Is the recipe right….1 cup of raw honey?
Yes. You can half the recipe if you want to make less.
Can I use an existing kombucha scoby to make Jun tea?
No, it won’t work. You have to use a Jun SCOBY.
Thanks
thats 100% false and not true. Jun Scoby’s are exactly the same as kombucha scoby’s. Kombucha Camp chick just markets them differently cuz it’s more money for her. This is a fact. you will see that the new scoby from the green tea and honey looks lighter and prettier just like the ones kombucha camp sells.
yes you can. it’s literally exactly the same
can you use Filtered Honey instead of RAW honey? What is the difference?
Yes, you can. I prefer RAW because it has more nutrients.
can I ask, are my Jun scobys and the tea they are sat in bad if left over a week ? can’t seem to find answers online , the scobys haven’t gone bad or mouldy , though I am concerned as whether it is still safe to use and re-brew?
its 100% safe
Is it possible to use matcha green tea powder instead of loose leaf green tea?
I haven’t tried it myself, but this person did and it turned out well. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=446358
I love the wild tonic Jun w 5.6% alcohol. For me it’s perfect way to relax in evening. Will the recipe above give same alcohol content? If not can you tell me how that is achieved?
I’ve made my first jun batch and it has some mould growing on the top after 3 days. It’s summer here so I’m wondering if it’s too hot for the brew.