Today I brewed a ginger tea for my next Ginger Bug experiment. I added 3 cups of water, about 2 tablespoons of loose black tea, 1/3 cup of sugar and jaggery mixed together, Star anise, coriander, cinnamon stick, sliced ginger and fennel. I added sugar to taste a bit sweet, knowing that the yeast will consume some during fermentation. I poured the mixture into a quart bottle and let cool before adding my ginger starter. I added the ginger bug, about a 1/2 cup, topped up with water and shook well to aerate. Loosely cover and leave overnight to ferment.
Brix: 9
Specific Gravity: 1.036
02-24-2016
In the morning, there was a layer of foam and myriads of bubbles rising in the bottle. A sure sign of yeast consuming sugar. In this case the activity was so great that I capped the bottle and moved it to the basement to carbonate. The cooler environment will slow down the yeast and keep the drink from over carbonating.
02-25-2016
I put the bottle in the fridge to cool first thing in the morning. It will be ready to taste test tonight after work.
02-25-2016
Tasting notes: it's very satisfying to hear a good pop when opening a flip top bottle. Good carbonation without the gushing of bubbles is a good sign. With soda water you get really large bubbles, but that's not the case here. They are very tiny, with scores of fine streams like rows of soldiers running into battle.
When poured, there is a creamy froth on top of the liquid. The color of the drink is of light black tea and the tea flavor comes through as I hoped. The spices are not as pronounced as with my Chai tea , which is a good thing. They don't overpower the wonderful tea flavor. A little tannic, but not bitter and the sweetness is spot on complementing the drink well. I give this drink 4 out of 5 stars.
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| Taken right after bottling. The loosely covered bottle allows air to escape while keeping out airborne bacteria. |
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