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I've copied this now edited post over from the Tea Appreciation Study Group thread order to avoid hijacking an excellent conversation amongst a group of tea connoisseurs. I'm just a tea pleb, so I can really only read and learn from them. There may also be some master brooch brewers or biochemists here. If so, I'm hoping that I might also learn something from them or at least from others beginning brewers like me. ____________________________

I've been drinking kombucha lately. GT's trinity. I pour in a third, then fill the glass with seltzer. Its very tasty. Good probiotics and nutritional profile, though a bit acidic and you wouldn't want to go crazy. Seems like Jun is similar, same yeast/mold scoby but it likes green tea and honey. Its supposed to be a little sweeter, more effervescent and brew faster and cooler then standard kombucha. I think I'll try to make some. I'd like to do the continuous method, cause I'm lazy. I just ordered a 62 ounce glass kettle. I'll order a jun scoby, brew up some sweet green tea w/ honey and see what forms. The thinking is every week, pour off half into bottles, fill up 30 oz w/ fresh green tea. When the scoby gets too big, floats too high, or too much yeast on the bottom, clean it out, and start anew. Shaving the scoby thinner and putting it back in the tea to do its light fermentation. any thoughts? or Jun (or Kombucha) drinkers out there?

Hello, I like the health benefits of Kombucha, and apple cider vinegar, but drinking it regularly hurts my teeth. I would like to neutralize these acidic liquids with baking soda. I am aware that Adding baking soda during brewing would prevent my kombucha from fermenting properly. So i plan on adding it to my glass 1 hour or so before drinking. There is apparently a precedent for this as some german scientists added calcium to a kombucha concentrate to neutralize the acidity in the product kombuchal. http://www.happyherbalist.com/browseproducts/Kombucha-Tea-Concentrate--Kombuchal.html Adding and allowing the reaction to occur will produce carbon dioxide and various neutral salts. This process normally would occur in my duodenum, to neutralize the acid anyways, so i see no reason as to why this will interfere with the health benefits of the acids. http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/digestive/question464.htm http://www.ddc.musc.edu/public/organs/stomach.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreatic_juice Now as to the probiotics. They grow well In the acidic environment but the fact that they are able to colonize the digestive tract and body outside of the stomach suggests that "the bicarbonate rich pancreatic juice and alkaline bile" do not kill them off. The fact that the KT and ACV are converted to alkaline substances during digestion implies that the salts produced by alkalization/neutralization are responsibe for many of the health benefits. From a chinese medicine-esque perspective, preneutralizing the KT and ACV Conserves the earth and wood energy in the pancreas and gall Bladder. Its just my theory? What do you think?