Jun SCOBY | tested and completely safe

What is Jun

Jun tea or jun is a naturally sparkling fermented drink made with green tea and honey. It is similar to kombucha and, like kombucha, it takes a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts) to brew.

If you add the jun-SCOBY to green tea sweetened with honey, the bacteria and yeasts will multiply and turn your drink into a lively, probiotic, sparkling soft drink that tastes slightly sour and slightly sweet.

Like kombucha, water kefir and other fermented drinks, you can give Jun a second bottle fermentation to make it bubbly. The first fermentation takes place in an open jar, closed with just a cloth. The second fermentation takes place in a sealed pressure-resistant bottle, keeping in the carbon dioxide that makes the brew sparkling.

What is the difference between kombucha and Jun SCOBY

Jun is made with green tea and honey, kombucha with black tea and sugar. The jun scoby is much lighter and looks almost white. It ferments slightly faster than kombucha. Probably because the honey is broken down much faster by the microbes present in the jun the scoby than sugar is. Jun tea itself is much lighter in color than kombucha, which is often quite dark. The alcohol content in jun tea may be slightly higher than in kombucha! Jun tea can contain up to 2% alcohol. Jun is also more special and rarer than kombucha, you will not find commercial Jun yet at hip bars and organic shops.

Where does jun come from?

Jun tea is believed to come from the East. Legend has it that it was brewed in monasteries and drunk by monks and warriors to promote well-being and as an aid to a clear mind. That is probably a myth. In fact, we just don’t know. However, Jun tea is still brewed in Western Tibet. So Jun may be from Tibet, passed down from generation to generation by monks and locals. Jun tea may be the “original” kombucha, as sugar was hard to come by on the Tibetan plain long ago, and honey easier. Perhaps the jun scoby was taken from Tibet and brewed with sugar more readily available elsewhere and became the kombucha scoby. The main fact remains: it is tasty!

Buy a safe Jun SCOBY

Kombucha and Jun are very tasty and fun to make, but not completely free of risk. In the 1990s, there have been some cases of acute poisoning from drinking kombucha, and reports of toxic bacteria such as Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) have also been reported. Therefore, you may prefer not to buy a SCOBY anywhere but rather from a reliable source. Our SCOBYs are tested and guaranteed pathogen-free!

Micro organisms

No two  SCOBYs are alike, but the following microbes are commonly found. Yeasts: Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Torulaspora delbrueckii and Zygosaccharomyces bailii. You will also find various candida and aspergillus yeasts. Bacteria commonly found in kombucha are Bacterium xylinum, Bacterium gluconium and Acetobacter hetogenum.

Content

• 1 tested Jun SCOBY
• 100 ml jun liquid

How do I make Jun?

Ingredients

• Jun SCOBY with the liquid
• 900 ml of water
• 5-10 g tea (green)
• 60-100 grams of honey.

Preparation

1. Sterilize your jar with hot water
2. Boil the water, dissolve the honey in it and let the tea steep until it has a spicy color and taste.
3. Remove the tea leaves and allow to cool to room temperature.
4. Add the SCOBY and the moisture to the tea.
5. The fungus loves oxygen so cloth over it and elastic around it.
6. Jun can be made in the wide temperature range, so room temperature works fine, he prefers a slightly lower temperature than kombucha.
7. Let ferment for 3-5 days out of direct sunlight.
8. After day 7, taste with a clean spoon every day to determine if you like it.
9. Take out the SCOBY together with at least 100 ml jun tea. Keep it in the refrigerator in a closed jar.
10. Pour the jun into a (bracket) bottle, PET bottles or champagne bottles if you want a bubbling kombucha. Add 1 or 2 teaspoons of honey and let ferment for another 2-3 days in a closed bottle, pressing the kombucha at the same time.
11. Allow to cool optionally to your favorite drinking temperature.

Times are highly dependent on temperature and season

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