Am sure those of you who have no interest in the 'kombucha tea' thing
are thinking 'enough already'- I was this way when I first got
started on kefir making, too. If that were my current 'new'
plaything, you'd be hearing all about that instead. Anyway, here's
blow by blow update-- got two little kombucha 'mothers' and already
had the tea concoction with lots of sugar and a little vinegar ready
for them when they arrived. Put them in two clean glass containers
and they loved their new 'tea homes' right away. Except that I kept
disturbing them- couldn't resist playing! And then I bumped one over
and completely spilled it. So the poor little mother mushroom was
laying in the bottom in the tiniest drops of liquid. I made new tea
solution and tossed her in! It was still rather warm, and I didn't
kill her, but it's good that she survived. She stayed on the bottom
for a couple of days, and finally got back to the top and
started 'spitting' out her white stuff 'babies'- By this time the
other was all foamy and doing well, but I still kept moving it. Then
I couldn't leave well enough alone- Brewed a new batch of tea and
sugar with a little vinegar. Poured it into three containers, with
room left for 'old' tea. Took the foamy one and used plastic spoon to
retrieve the 'mama' and tossed her in one. Put the foamy topped tea
minus "mother mushroom' all into another one, just poured it all
there. Then took the third one, the 'mother mushroom' that had just
risen to the top and was spitting new baby potential into the third
one. Also had to taste the tea- still way too sweet, so poured it
into the new batch. This was yesterday. Well, all three love their
new 'tea homes' - the one which had begun to 'spit' and got dumped in
all together is doing real well, having a good old foamin' time
already. The one with just the mama is also doing well, spitting out
white baby blotches up a storm already! And the one with no mother
mushrooms is even doing well, although slower. No baby blotches, but
a circle of foam has formed around the edges - so I found out you
don't even NEED the mother mushroom, apparently, if it comes from
previous 'lather' added. I'm being much more careful today not to
move them- made sure I rubber banded the paper towels around the tops
and have the tea content low enough that I can watch their progress
without having to keep taking the paper towel OFF, like I was having
to do before- had them too full to watch from the sidelines! OK, now
will try to resist the temptation to give you every detail- think I
have a lot of it 'out of my system' now. Thanks for bearing with me!--
"Cheyenne Cin" (Cindy)-- P.S. It seems with the kefir, the sweet
mead grape winemaking with no special equipment, and now with the
kombucha tea, I can't do anything wrong! It all goes very well!