Meet XING – our new kombucha SCOBY baby/mother/mushroom/starter culture

[dropcap]As[/dropcap] time gently glides by, our gorgeous SCOBY (which was grown from store bought kombucha) has grown at an impressive rate – transforming itself from what appeared to be nothing to residue/slick, to urgh, to a magnificent circular disc of symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, literally.

Over the past month or so, since conception – we’ve witnessed our SCOBY grow steadily. At the start, people were bombarding us with stories of the possible dangers and risks of growing a SCOBY from store bought kombucha and I wasn’t certain what to expect – but I knew that I wanted to give this idea a go. Fortunately, I’m glad that I did because now, we’re blessed with a gorgeously plump, perfectly formed, adorable SCOBY – ready to make for us some delicious fermented tea!

Her/its name is XING – named after the word ZING – named after the refreshing and effervescent taste and sensation of drinking kombucha tea! Why did I not just call her ZING? Because X names are the new Z names – believe me!

Initially, I had thought about naming her VENUS – named after the Venus of Willendorf (Woman of Willendorf) – the enigmatic/mysterious female/mother figure from the Paleolithic period. However, as our SCOBY was developing/growing, I realised that VENUS did not really suit her and that XING was more appropriate. A better ring to it if you may.

Today, XING is 47 days old, and as you can see in the photos below, she is a generous looking thing (about 2.5 cms thick) with a voracious appetite for sweet organic green tea. It appears that she’s developed some extra layers of baby fat too, or is that just a natural layer of parting new SCOBY? She’s really quite amazing isn’t she!?

I’m very proud of XING, and the fact that she’s grown to become a fine SCOBY specimen without any hiccups or intervention. She’s simply been sitting on her bench, quietly sipping tea, growing and waiting for the day to work/make kombucha tea for us (and having her photos taken along the way without any complaints).

In comparison to other SCOBYs that I’ve seen online, XING looks pretty much/just about ready to be used. However, I’m going to let her drink and grow a few extra days more before placing her in a new jar of freshly made green tea – her favourite. I will post/share that process when it happens.

Also, I would like to thank and acknowledge MOJO Kombucha for the bottle of Original Kombucha that XING is sourced from.

That’s all folks – thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next episode of our kombucha saga, and an up close and personal with XING!