Which tea goes into your kombucha?
A living culture, sugar, water and tea. The basics of kombucha fit on a short shopping list. Yet those few ingredients can give you very different drinks: fresh and light, full and bold, floral or a little funky.
The tea you choose has a lot to do with that. It starts with green, black, white or oolong, and continues with the particular tea, the blend and all the flavours it contains.
Black, green, white or oolong?
Black tea, green tea, white tea and oolong all come from the same plant: Camellia sinensis. The differences come partly from the variety, growing conditions and how the leaves are processed.
With black tea, oxidation is allowed to develop: compounds in the leaves react with oxygen, changing their colour and flavour. With green tea, heating slows this reaction early on. Oolong is partly oxidised. So you are already starting with different ingredients before the culture goes in. [1]
Black tea is a good starting point if you enjoy a distinct tea flavour. An Assam, for example, can have a malty character. Oolong offers plenty of variety, from light, floral teas to deeper flavours. White tea is also interesting to try alongside your usual tea. [1]
That base changes further during fermentation. Yeasts and bacteria produce acids and aromas, while compounds from the tea are also transformed. A study fermenting five types of tea under the same conditions found differences in the final composition and aroma profiles. [2] For more on how yeasts and bacteria change your tea together, read the biochemistry of kombucha.
Green tea is the quickest in my brews
Green tea can provide a light, fresh or slightly grassy base. Other aromas and flavours develop during fermentation. In a study of green tea kombucha, the aroma profile changed considerably over the course of fermentation. [3]
In my experience, green tea ferments the fastest.
That is what I notice in my own brews. What happens in your jar also depends on your culture, temperature, recipe and amount of starter liquid. Follow the instructions that come with your starter, and keep an eye on how your brew develops from the recommended tasting points onwards.
Green tea is also the usual base for Jun, which is brewed with honey. Curious about what that combination does to the flavour? Read the article on the difference between kombucha and Jun.
Loose leaf or tea bags?
You can make kombucha with either. Both loose leaf tea and tea bags appear in the preparation instructions from Colorado State University Extension. [4]
Loose leaf tea is easy to weigh or blend yourself. If you use bags, check how much tea they contain. The weight per bag can vary.
For your first brew, an unflavoured green or black tea is a straightforward starting point. Let the brewed tea cool completely before adding the living culture, and follow the amounts and starting volume in the instructions that come with your starter. [4]
Which flavours do you like?
There is still so much to choose from within those broad tea categories. A fresh bergamot tea, a nutty genmaicha, a floral blend or a distinctly fruity tea offer very different possibilities. Those particular flavours help shape the character of your kombucha.
Two green teas can therefore give you very different starting points. The same goes for two Earl Greys: how much bergamot they contain and which tea forms the base will affect what you taste.
Before you start, make yourself an ordinary cup of the tea you want to use. Smell and taste it. What do you enjoy about it? Later, you can discover what comes through in your kombucha and what has changed during fermentation.
My favourite flavours for bottling
The second fermentation lets you play further with the flavour of your brewed kombucha. I like using different teas and blends for that. My personal favourites:
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Rooibos. This works really well for me in the second fermentation and gives a lovely flavour. Definitely one to try.
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Plenty of bergamot. For a good fresh flavour, I love a strong Earl Grey. My favourite is Le Bergamotier from Exclusivithee, a blend that includes green tea, oolong and bergamot. [6]
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A good genmaicha. Green tea with puffed rice. I like using it for something a little more subtly funky. My genmaicha also comes from Exclusivithee. [7]
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Your favourite fruity or floral tea. For me, that is Thé des Sables Blancs from Exclusivithee, a white tea with vanilla, coconut and orange peel. Feel free to start with a flavour you already enjoy. It can lead to some surprising combinations. [8]
The possibilities are endless. You can let one flavour shine, blend two teas or divide the same brew into a few different flavour experiments.
For maintaining your base culture over the long term, I do recommend real tea: tea from Camellia sinensis. Keep some culture and enough starter liquid from your regular first fermentation for that purpose. You can then use rooibos and other flavourings separately in the second fermentation.
Rooibos has also been studied as a fermentation base. A fourteen-day trial alone tells us little about how a culture performs over many successive brews. That is why I use real tea as the practical starting point for the base culture. [5]
Want to try these flavours? Read the guide to bottling, pressure build-up and refrigeration too. Flavourings containing sugar, such as fruit and some blends, can affect carbonation.
A brewing journal
Brewing tip: keep a little kitchen journal. A notebook in the kitchen, a note on your phone or a document with your favourite recipes. After a few brews, it is useful to be able to look back at exactly what you did.
For each brew, you could note down:
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The tea: type, name, brand and any blend.
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Your recipe: how much tea, water, sugar and starter liquid you used.
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How it went: starting date, temperature and when you tasted it.
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The second fermentation: which flavouring you added, how much, and when the bottles went into the fridge.
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Your verdict: what you enjoyed and what you want to change next time.
A few examples of what a tasting note might look like:
“Rooibos: lovely flavour. Next time, let it come through a little more.”
“Bergamot: a nice fresh aroma. Keep this combination.”
“Genmaicha: subtle. Try it alongside a plain green tea next time.”
If you want to compare two teas, keep the rest of the recipe and the conditions as similar as possible, and change one thing at a time. Taste both after the same number of days and at the point when you personally enjoy each brew most. Those two comparisons tell you different things.
With notes like these, you gradually build your own collection of recipes. Including the experiments you would love to make again.
Have you found a tea that works surprisingly well? Let me know. I am curious about what is happening in your brewing jar.
Just starting out? The fermentation guide has help for your first brew. BiomeBrew starters on Etsy come with instructions to help you get going.
Sources
[1] UK Tea & Infusions Association — Tea Processing and Blending and Varieties of Tea.
[2] Matrix-dependent modulation of chemical composition, volatile profile, and biological activity of kombucha beverages from different tea types. Food Chemistry, 2026. Used for the general influence of the tea base on composition and aroma.
[3] Dartora et al. (2023). Understanding the effect of fermentation time on physicochemical characteristics, sensory attributes, and volatile compounds in green tea kombucha. Food Research International.
[4] Colorado State University Extension — Understanding and Making Kombucha, revised October 2025.
[5] Gaggìa et al. (2019). Kombucha Beverage from Green, Black and Rooibos Teas: A Comparative Study Looking at Microbiology, Chemistry and Antioxidant Activity. Nutrients. The study examined fermentation over fourteen days; it does not establish long-term maintenance on rooibos alone.
[6] Exclusivithee — Le Bergamotier. Used for the product name and ingredients. The preference and flavour experience are personal.
[7] Exclusivithee — Genmaicha. Used for the product name and ingredients: green tea and puffed rice.
[8] Exclusivithee — Thé des Sables Blancs. Used for the product name and ingredients. The preference is personal.