Jun Tea FAQ’s
Have questions about Jun Tea? Find answers to some of the most asked questions about this culture product:
Making jun tea is not difficult and in simple terms – Add the jun tea culture to a glass jar containing green tea and raw honey, then allow sit for 3-6 days.
Click here for more info on making jun tea.
Not really, if you try to brew jun tea just like kombucha, most likely won’t get a very good tasting brew. Jun tea is a lot more sensitive than regular kombucha. Typically, jun tea brews far better in cooler temperatures, 15-20 degrees celsius. Jun also tends to ferment a lot faster then kombucha, usually just 3-5 days.
The bacteria and yeast within Jun Scobys have been adapted to green tea and honey over many, many years to the point where they are a completely different type of Scoby. You won’t be making Jun Tea without an authentic Jun culture, you will be making kombucha with honey. Still very tasty but not Jun Tea.
This comes down to personal preference but Jun tea will always culture best with quality green teas. Gunpowder green tea does very well with Jun Scobys and Clipper organic green tea also seems to brew a tasty Jun Tea.
No, definitely not… Remember, a Jun tea scoby is adapted for honey and is far less flexible than a regular Kombucha scoby. If you replace the honey with sugar, your Scoby will most likely degrade and you might end up with a swiss-cheese like texture on the Jun ccoby.
The correct ratio is: 3 tea bags and 60g honey per 1L of Jun Tea. This is not necessarily a fixed ratio but rather a reflection of what works for us. After a while you are likely to find your own way and methods which is the beauty (and fun!) of working with Jun Tea.
Jun tea prefers a slightly cooler temperature when compared to Kombucha. The optimum temperature for Jun tea is 15-20 degrees celsius.
Yes, a single purchase of our jun tea cultures can provide you with a lifetimes supply of jun tea.
Jun Tea will almost always taste best with green tea. Green tea is the most common tea used for making Jun Tea.
Organic raw honey works best. You can also use the very basic cheap honey supermarkets sell but for the very best tasting jun tea, organic raw honey should be used.
Some good signs to look out for are the development of strands of brown yeast floating about in the mixture (more so than regular kombucha) and the development of a new Jun Tea scoby (baby scoby) close to the top of the jar but this will depend on the length of the fermentation.
After 3 days the Jun Tea will still be fairly sweet, at 5 it will have become more tart. Personally, we prefer our Jun Tea at around the 3 day mark. After a while you will find what works best for you which is the beauty (and fun!) of working with Jun Tea!
My Jun Tea Scoby sank to the bottom of my jar, is in the middle, sideways, or has risen to the top of the jar. Is this normal?
Jun Tea Scobys can either sink, be somewhere in the middle or rise to the top. It really doesn’t matter as long as it’s not moldy and otherwise looks healthy.
Bottling the fermented Jun Tea in airtight bottles will help to increase the carbonation.
Yes. Jun Tea usually contains roughly 2% alcohol, as opposed to kombucha which contains about 0.5%. This makes it unsuitable for children and pregnant and nursing mothers, and should not be consumed before driving or operating machinery.
Yes. Jun is a form of Kombucha and you can make a wonderful second ferment. In fact, just like Kombucha, we highly recommend it! Typically, second ferments are faster with Jun than Kombucha and Jun prefers a cooler ideal climate to that of Kombucha.
You can second ferment Jun Tea exactly the same way you do Kombucha. The difference is that the second fermentation tends to happen quicker, and Jun seems to have MORE carbonation, on average, than Kombucha. You likely won’t need to second ferment as long (1 – 2 days, vs 2 to 5 days). Just make sure you burp the bottles to prevent an explosion.
If you need to take a break for a few weeks for an upcoming holiday etc.. and you’re worried about what to do with your jun tea scoby, then follow the steps below:
Simply go ahead and place the scoby in a fresh mixture of green tea, honey and water. Now cover the jar, just like you always do and place it in the refrigerator. Cold temperatures greatly slow the culturing process, so the refrigerator is a good place to store the scoby when a break is necessary.
The jun tea scoby will be absolutely fine for up to 5 weeks, although we don’t recommend drinking the jun tea when you return as it will be more like vinegar at this point. However, you can still use it as a starter tea if you like.
There you go!
Remember, like most live cultures, Jun Tea Scobys can be temperamental and will take a while to master. These instructions should only serve as a guide and are a reflection of what works for us. After a while you are likely to find your own way and methods which is the beauty (and fun!) of working with Jun Tea.
When fermenting more than one live culture at home, we suggest a distance of at least 4 feet between the cultures at all times. This is to help stop cross contamination of the different cultures and is of particular importance when culturing dairy products. The only exception to this is when cultures are being stored in the refrigerator with tight-fitting lids.