The homemade kombucha brewers are going to love this one! This Blueberry Kombucha recipe is delightfully fruity and easy to brew!
I took an unexpected trip back to America a few weeks ago. The first week was spent in the critical cardiac unit of a hospital, the second was spent with tears of joy, and the third involved gallons and gallons of kombucha. And now that our family is back on their feet, letting out a huge sigh of relief, let’s talk about kombucha.
My mom’s kombucha, to be exact. Living in balmy Alabama, her kombucha SCOBY has quickly grown into a massive beast, churning out fresh batches every week. Needless to say, my slow churning cold weather Dutch kombucha is jealous.
So I took advantage of her quick brewing ‘bucha and tested out a bunch of flavors while I was there, to include peach, ginger, apple, and honey! Recipes all coming soon, but today we’re going with a simple fruity basic…Blueberry Kombucha!
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 comprehensive guide to homemade kombucha here)
- Second Fermentation: This is when you carbonate the kombucha by adding sugars (like blueberry!) and bottling it.
In order to make this Blueberry Kombucha, you will need to have completed the first fermentation already and have some kombucha that’s ready to be carbonated! The video below shows you how to get to this point.
Ingredients to make Blueberry Kombucha
- Kombucha from a first fermentation: You’ve brewed your kombucha with the help of your SCOBY and it’s the perfect balance of sweet and tart (step-by-step first fermentation instructions here).
- Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen blueberries to make kombucha!
- Optional additions: Ginger and/or lemon zest work well with blueberries in this kombucha.
How to make Blueberry Kombucha
Making your own flavored kombucha with blueberries is super easy. The process goes something like this:
- Cook the blueberries: Heat blueberries, water, and sugar in a saucepan until the blueberries burst and begin to breakdown. This not only creates a deeper flavor, but makes it easier for the kombucha to “eat” up the blueberry sugars.
- Mix: Stir together kombucha and blueberry mixture to combine them well.
- Bottle: Transfer everything to fermentation bottles (I like to use quart-sized bottles).
- Ferment: For 3 to 10 days, until it reaches the carbonation level you like.
- Enjoy: Strain out blueberry pulp (optional), then chill in the fridge before serving.
Can you use frozen berries in kombucha?
You can use frozen berries to make this flavored kombucha! I love using frozen fruit to make kombucha because it is usually more affordable, doesn’t depend on seasonality, and is already prepped for you.
No need to defrost the berries for this recipe. Simply throw them into the saucepan and cook until they breakdown into a thick liquid.
Ingredients
- ½ gallon kombucha from a first fermentation this is not storebought kombucha, 1.9 L
- ½ cup blueberries fresh or frozen, 100 g
- ½ cup water 120 mL
- 1 Tbsp sugar 10 g
- Optional: 1 tsp lemon zest, small knob of fresh ginger
Instructions
- Cook: Add berries, water, and sugar to a medium saucepan (optionally add lemon zest and/or ginger). Cook, uncovered, over medium heat until berries burst, mashing them a bit to form a thick liquid. Let cool to room temperature (to quicken this up, set pan in a sink full of cold water).
- Mix: In a large glass bowl or pitcher, stir together blueberry mixture and kombucha.
- Bottle: Transfer kombucha into fermentation bottles*, leaving about 2 inches empty at the top. Seal tightly.
- Ferment: Place in a dark, room temperature area for 3 to 10 days, until it reaches the carbonation level you like. This process will go faster in warmer climates, and slower in cooler climates.
- Enjoy: Strain the kombucha to remove pulp (optional), then chill in the fridge before serving. Can be stored in the fridge, tightly sealed, for several weeks.
Tips & Tricks
Nutrition Information
More Kombucha Flavors To Try
Here are a few more of our favorite kombucha flavors (or check out our all-time favorite flavors here)
Zingy Raspberry Kombucha
A copycat inspired by the zingy Trilogy kombucha! (Recipe on our sister site, BrewBuch.com).
Chia Seed Kombucha
My favorite addition to kombucha...chia seeds! (Recipe on our sister site, BrewBuch.com).
Eric says
Is it necessary to add additional sugar to the blueberries when you bottle it? I’m diabetic and want to keep the extra sugar low. Thanks
Sarah says
You could get away with not adding the sugar! The natural berry sugars should be enough to carbonate the ‘buch. Happy brewing!
Emily says
Hi. Have you ever tried using Monkfruit sweetner (such as Lakanto), in place of sugar? If so, how did it work out. If not, do you have an opinion? Thanks!
Sarah says
Hi Emily! I haven’t tried using monkfruit here because kombucha really needs some sort of sugar to ferment. This is one of few recipes where you really cannot use sugar substitutes. BUT you won’t actually be consuming that whole 1 cup of sugar. The sugar is food for the bacteria and yeast. They’ll basically eat it all up and produce wonderful things like acidity and carbonation, and the finished kombucha will be much lower in sugar as a result.
Kathryn says
Just wondering if you need to add sugar for the carbonation part? I’m not adding anything and just letting it carbonate. Will that work?
Sarah says
Hi Kathryn! You’ll probably need to add a little sugar to feed the kombucha and produce carbonation. Here’s how to make kombucha with lower sugar content!
Guntis Kalsnavs says
Thanks for sharing your experiments and findings. This healthy-tasty stuff rocks!
Sarah says
Happy to hear you’re liking it! 😀
Sunny says
This is now my very favorite kombucha recipe. Gorgeous color and even better taste! No more store bought kombucha a needed, I’ve got the best at home! Thank you!
Sarah says
Aw so awesome! Thanks for letting us know how it went, Sunny!
Molly says
Is it necessary to cool the blueberry mixture before mixing with kombucha?
Sarah says
Hi Molly! Yep, make sure to cool it off before adding it 😀 Happy brewing!
Jenny says
Hi can I strain my blueberry and ginger kombucha into another bottle and store in the fridge or will it loose its fiz if I rebottle
Cheers
Jen
Sarah says
It does generally lose some fizz when you rebottle. I would just strain right before serving!
Esther de Schone says
I made my first batch of kombucha last week and used your pineapple and basil recipe. I really love the flavours and having herbs in with the fruit.. I’m keen to try the blueberry recipe but would like to experiment with also adding a herb. What herb would you recommend?
Sarah says
Blueberry would be good with so many herbs actually! Basil would go well, or mint. I’ve tried the hardy herbs (like thyme and rosemary) and didn’t love them in kombucha. But those would usually go pretty well with blueberry if you want to give it a shot!
Ruth says
Hi Emily, would it work if we strain the juice before mixing it with the kombucha to avoid straining at the end?
Sarah says
Yep that would work! 😀
Courtney s says
Hey Sarah! I’m obsessed with blueberry mint kombucha. Can I add mint when cooking down the blueberries?
Sarah says
Yesss that would be delish! 😀
Jeanette says
Does the fruit rot since it’s not refrigerated for 3-10 days? What prevents it from growing mold?
Sarah says
Great question! If all is done correctly, the fruit doesn’t go bad. When you add fresh, non-moldy fruit into your kombucha, you’re plopping it into an environment that should be free from bad molds or bacteria. Not only that, but it’s an environment that’s pretty acidic, which prevents rot from occurring. So by adding fruit, you’re effectively preserving or pickling your fruit, and it will not go bad. More about how it works here!
Ellen says
I’m wondering what is the size you consider a “serving”, so I can estimate how much fruit per bottle? I have 150 ml bottles. Thankss
Sarah says
A serving is 1 cup (236 mL) and it makes 8 of those! 😀
Jay says
I’ve just bottled my kombucha for its second ferment using this recipe.
My berries just sunk to the bottom of the pitcher so I only have two bottles or so with pulp in it and the rest is just liquid.
Do you think it’ll still be efficient enough to flavour the kombucha?
Thanks
Sarah says
Yep I think that’ll be just fine! As long as the berries are mashed a bit to expose the flavors to the kombucha 😀
Ladeena Peterson says
My family loves the blueberry, ginger, lemon zest kumbatcha brew. Thank you for your tried and tested receipe. This is my first time doing Kombucha.
Susan Arnu says
Thanks so much for sharing your recipes, I’m sure my kombucha is going to be improved from now on.
Susan says
Do I need to put part of the scoby in the second fermentation? how else is it going to continue fermenting?
Sarah says
Nope no need! At that point, there are enough bacteria and yeast in the kombucha to ferment it 😀
Donna says
This is my first ever batch of kombucha. I started from the ground up, making my own SCOBY. I followed these wonderful directions letter by letter, cooked blueberries from my own bushes & mixed the blueberries with my first batch. The results are awesome. I am hooked after sampling my first bottle. The one thing I missed was ordering & having bottles here to use for the carbonation step. Luckily, I had saved the last 6-8 bottles of store bought & hoped the lids would be tight enough. They were. I now have my bottles ordered & my second batch fermenting. Thank you for these easy to follow directions!
Barnone says
Great great great!
Nada says
How long can i keep it refrigerated in an airtight bottle?
Sarah Bond says
Kombucha doesn’t actually expire! More on kombucha expirations here 😀
Leta / Zettergreen says
Do I have to use sugar with the cooking blueberries?
Sarah Bond says
You can leave it out if desired! There should be enough sugar in the blueberries to carbonate the kombucha.
Travis Mercante says
Why do we put sugar in this one for second fermentation and we don’t for a lot of the other fruits?
Sarah Bond says
I find that blueberries don’t have enough sugar to get at fizzy fermentation!
Ellen says
Great taste and colour. Hubby liked this blueberry one more than the mango one I made before.
Karen says
Hi I’m a newby and just waiting for my first fermentation to finish and was wondering about bottle hygiene is washing in hot soapy water enough or do I need to boil to sterilise bottles and bowls etc many thanks, Karen
Sarah Bond says
Hot soapy water it enough! 😀 Here’s our guide to cleaning kombucha supplies.
Karen says
Hi during the first and second fermentation my Kombucha has long strings of sediment floating in it is this normal and safe to consume thanks
Sarah Bond says
That’s normal! Just yeast hanging out in there 🙂