Civil War! Kefir (Water) vs Kombucha!!

I just came out from the cinema after watching the excellent movie Civil War. Seems like pitting one versus the other is the flavour of the day now and I had decided to jump into this bandwagon and pit two of our lovable Scobys against each other. 

Kefir and Kombucha are very similar. Both are Scobys and its consumption assist in the well being of our gut and it also has assist in detoxification

However there are 3 obvious differences that I would like to highlight here.

         1. Choice of water and sugar

When I brew kombucha I try to avoid mineral-rich water (mineral water) and raw sugar (mineral rich also), because kombucha mostly gets its minerals from the tea it is brewed in. Mineral-rich water actually impedes the growth of kombucha Scoby. The opposite is absolutely true with kefir. Kefir gets its minerals to build its pollysaccharide wall from the water and choice of sugar, thus both needs to be rich in minerals.


 2.  Brewing time

Kefir is the sprinter in the world of fermentation while kombucha is more of a mid distance runner. A regular brew with kefir takes only 24 hours while kombucha takes around 8-10 days on average. In fact if u leave it by itself the duration can be stretched up to 21 days without any impediment to the kombucha Scoby.

 3.   Lifespan

Strange but true, kefir grains are pretty much the Superman equivalent of Scoby. If it is kept nourished and taken care of, the grains will pretty much live forever.
Alas, the same is not true for Kombucha Scoby. At most a new Kombucha Scoby can only brew up to 7-8 times, after that u will need to “retire” the Scoby and brew using a fresher newer Scoby.

There you have it. 3 key differences between the two. So which team are you in? Team Kefir or Team Kombucha?

Me? I am a supporter of both. 

Happy brewing!



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