Honey Jun Tea

Our friend Amy has come to teach us that with honey you can make a refreshing drink that Charlotte loves, and that is also very beneficial for Diabetes, it’s called Jun Tea.

Amy is a Californian-Seville beekeeper who runs Honey House Barcelona.  Passionate about creative ways to share knowledge about pollinators, honey, kombucha and more, she offers master classes for all ages and a range of products derived from hives in small batches. Honey House Barcelona is the connection between sustainability, art and the natural world.

Jun is the first cousin of kombucha and is considered the “champagne of kombuchas”. The difference between the two is that traditional kombucha is made with cane sugar and black tea and jun with green tea and honey.

Kombucha tea is a mildly acidic fermented beverage containing vitamins, minerals, and essential acids that aid digestion and the immune system.

Fermentation is achieved through a culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY), the kombucha fungus. The yeasts and bacteria of our Scoby are eating and breaking down the sugar generating carbon dioxide and a new Scoby that help in the fermentation process, a process during which our concern called sugar is metabolized into enzymes, carbon dioxide (bubbles), vitamins, minerals and acids.  Once the time indicated for fermentation has concluded, 89% of the sugar will have been consumed, leaving only 11% alive, which will already be in a predigested form.

After fermentation, there are between 2 and 6 grams of residual sugar in a Kombucha glass. To contrast, the same amount of whole cow’s milk has 10 grams of sugar, orange juice 16 grams and carrot juice has 8 grams of sugar. Charlotte with her diabetes should get 3 servings of carbohydrates for a snack. So a glass of kombucha (equivalent to 1/2 serving) suits her great!

Here is Amy’s recipe from Honey House Barcelona to make JUN TEA at home:

INGREDIENTS:

1 SCOBY

1 glass of Jun Tea already fermented

1.5 L of mineral water

165 gr of pure honey

4 bags of green tea (eco)

1 lemon and raspberries (for the second fermentation)

FIRST FERMENTATION:

We infuse 4 bags of organic green tea in 1.5 L of hot water for 5-10 min

Very important, we wait until it is at room temperature

· We add 165 grams of raw pure honey and stir very well

Add 1 glass of fermented jun tea and the SCOBY (the Mother) in the mixture

Cover with a piece of cloth and let it rest for 4-6 days

· Once our Jun Tea is ready, we remove the Scoby and store it with 1 glass of liquid for the next fermentation.

· We can now bottle and store our Jun Tea in the fridge.

SECOND FERMENTATION:

(to add flavors and bubbles)

· We remove the SCOBY from the infusion and gently stir the drink to mix the sediments at the bottom well – without shaking.

· We add the ingredients to the mixture to flavor the Jun. We have made it with lemon, raspberries and fresh mint.

We close the pot hermetically

We let it rest for 1-3 days at room temperature

Once fermented, we remove the maceration fruits and strain them… and ready to enjoy!

You can order your Honey Kombucha Kit from Amy and start fermenting at home. She provides you with the SCOBY, the liquid to start with (with a balanced PH), an e-Book and all her tips and tricks to make it perfect for you !! It also does workshops for beginners and finally you can also buy raw honey and bresca from its hives.

You can contact Amy at honeyhousebarcelona@gmail.com

Enjoy! Helena & Charlotte