Ask Allie!

Ask Allie is our advice column, where you can ask all your food-related questions to get digestible answers! No question is off limits!

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Can the Thaibetan scoby be used with black tea?

— Karen

Yes it can. Technically, any tea can be used for any kombucha starter (the scoby itself is a byproduct of fermentation that does the job of protecting the brew from contaminants), but if it wasn’t created for a specific type it will simply adapt to it. The only variance here is with jun, which has a different microbial profile and must use honey instead of sugar like regular kombucha. I’ve not seen someone do jun with black tea, but I suspect it'd be just fine.

My Bulgarian Culture is suddenly tasting sour, almost like there is lemon juice in it. The consistency is creamy and it looks normal. The taste is so sour that I have to sweeten it, whereas I used to eat it plain. What can I do?

— Samantha

Try dropping the incubation time an hour. Would you let me know how this goes, either way? There are other methods you can try, but this is a good place to start. 

I have ordered from you several times and well then I move and loose my cultures. Thank you for offering these to the public. I am putting together another order over the next few days but was wondering what thermo makes the thickets yogurt?

— Dan

Greek styles are always thickest.