This tart Hibiscus Kombucha is a great alternative to homemade kombucha with black tea. It works great with flavors too!

One of my favorite hobbies is making homemade kombucha. I love creating new flavors and controlling how much sweetener I add.
Best of all, I love saving money by not buying store-bought.
One of my latest experiments is trying out different teas in the kombucha first fermentation. This Hibiscus Kombucha is the first of hopefully many of those experiments.
The first fermentation of kombucha is when you combine sweetened tea, a kombucha scoby, and some starter tea. You let it ferment for 7-21 days and the result is uncarbonated unflavored kombucha.
This Hibiscus Kombucha is sweet, tart, and fruity tasting.
Two other first fermentation recipes to try are Yerba Mate Kombucha and Green Tea Kombucha recipe. Both are mild, light, and refreshing.
Another hibiscus recipe is my Agua de Jamaica recipe.
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🧾 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. To see the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions, see the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Kombucha starter pack or 1-2 cups freshly made kombucha and a scoby
- Hibiscus flowers
- Filtered water
- Sugar
🥣 Supplies
- Gallon sized jar
- Tea towel or coffee filter
- Thick rubber band
- kitchen thermometer
🔪 Instructions
Step 1: Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Remove from the heat.
Step 2: Add dried hibiscus flowers. Steep 5-10 minutes.
Step 3: Add 1 cup of sugar, and stir until dissolved. Reheat the tea to get the sugar to dissolve faster if needed.
Step 4: Add the tea mixture to a gallon sized jar, along with room-temperature filtered water, the kombucha scoby, and the fermented tea that it came in.
Check to make sure the mixture is between 75°-85°. It will most likely be on the hotter side, but it will cool down as long as the room is between 75°-85°.
Step 5: Secure the jar with a tea towel or coffee filter and a rubber band. Place the jar in a warm location - between 75°-85°.
Colder temperatures = mold, so make sure the room is between those temperatures!
Let the kombucha brew between 7- 21 days. Begin tasting the kombucha on day 7. If it tastes too sweet, let it ferment longer. I like to brew mine for 18 days.
After the kombucha is done brewing, pour it into bottles and place it in the fridge, save 1-2 cups of liquid for your next batch, or you can start a second fermentation with flavors.
The video below is for homemade kombucha with black tea, but the process is the same:
You can also add sweetener to the homemade kombucha. You will need some bottles with flip top lids, and a funnel. I like 2 tablespoons of maple syrup per 25 oz. bottle of kombucha, or ½ cup per gallon.
Pour maple syrup, then the finished hibiscus kombucha into each glass bottle, leaving 1-2" head space. Let sit 3-5 days in a warm location again, popping the bottles each day to let out carbon dioxide. Taste each day to test its flavor and fizziness.
💭 Tips
- Since kombucha is usually made with black tea, you will want to have an extra scoby when trying recipes like this one. Once you have made a batch or two of homemade kombucha, your scoby will produce a baby scoby. That's a good time to experiment with other teas.
- Hibiscus tea will stain your scoby and may change the flavor of it, which is another reason to have an extra scoby.
What Flavors Pair Well With Hibiscus?
Sweet tart fruit goes well with hibiscus. Hibiscus tea tastes like cranberry, raspberry, and pomegranate.
If you make a second fermentation (by adding flavors), you can use raspberries, mixed berries, strawberries, cranberries, pomegranates, or cherries for a foolproof recipe.
Flavors I've made with hibiscus kombucha:
Or you can try other fruits like banana, pineapple, blood orange, or kiwi to see how they complement each other.
5 Secrets To Making Kombucha
Kombucha just got easier!
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👩🏻🍳 Recipe FAQs
Hibiscus kombucha is sweet, tart, and fruity.
Raspberries, mixed berries, strawberries, cranberries, pomegranates, and cherries pair well with hibiscus.
🥃 Other Kombucha Recipes
If you tried this Hibiscus Kombucha Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and let me know how you like it in the 💬 comments below. I love hearing from you!
📋 Recipe
Hibiscus Kombucha
Equipment
- 1 Gallon sized jar
- 1 Tea towel or coffee filter
- 1 Thick rubber band
- Kitchen thermometer
Ingredients
- 14 cups filtered water
- ½ cup hibiscus flowers
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 1 kombucha culture*
- 1-2 cups homemade kombucha
Instructions
- Bring 2 cups filtered water to a boil.
- Add hibiscus flowers and remove from heat. Allow to steep 5-10 minutes, then strain.
- Add sugar and stir to dissolve. If the sugar is taking too long to dissolve, turn on the heat again and heat 1-2 minutes to dissolve the sugar.
- Add sweetened tea to a clean gallon sized jar. Fill with room temperature filtered water. Using a kitchen thermometer, make sure the tea is 75°-85°. (By adding room temperature water to the hot tea mixture it will be around 85°-87°, but it will cool down to room temperature.)
- Add kombucha culture and 1-2 cups homemade kombucha (or starter culture and starter tea) to the sweetened tea. Secure a tea towel or coffee filter over the jar with a sturdy rubber band.
- Place the jar in a warm area that is between 75°-85°. Cold temperatures cause mold, so a warm area is necessary for the success of your kombucha!
- The kombucha will be ready between 7-21 days. Taste it at day 7. If it's too sweet, ferment it longer. I like to brew mine for 18 days.
Notes
Nutrition
*Note: Nutrition information should be considered an estimate only. Different nutrition calculators give you different results.
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