In a saucepan, combine 4 cups of the water with the sugar. Place the candy thermometer in the pot and bring to a low (170F) boil. Stir to completely dissolve the sugar, turn off the light and add the loose tea. Stir and allow to steep for 15 minutes. 

While the tea is steeping, pour the remaining 8 cups of water into your large glass jar. Once the tea is done steeping, place a mesh strainer over the mouth of the jar and pour tea through.

Discard tea leaves and place candy thermometer in glass jar. When tea temperature is below 85F (room temp), pour in SCOBY and 1 1/2 cups plain kombucha. 

Place cheesecloth over top of jar and secure with a rubber band. Date the jar and set in a warm area (75 to 80F) of your kitchen (or somewhere else in the house). 

You need to let the tea ferment anywhere from 10 to 14 days depending on how warm the environment is that the tea is left in. 

The best way to gauge is to test with a straw (least disruptive to the SCOBY) every other day starting at day 9 or 10. 

If the tea still tastes sweet, let it sit. When it begins to taste slightly tart or sour, you can move it to the second fermentation. 

My tea was perfect (for me) at day 12 and our kitchen has been very warm (upper 70's, low 80's due to warm Seattle summer and no air-conditioning).

Gently remove the SCOBY and 1 1/2 cups of the mature Kombucha to a bowl or measuring cup (or container if not starting a new batch). 

*NOTE: This is a good time to reuse the SCOBY and start a new batch*

Decant the Kombucha into glass jars that have tightly seal-able lids. Hannah uses beer growlers and I used mason jars for my first batch. I've since been saving all of my GT's Kombucha jars and removing the labels (I wish I would have thought about that before!)

I added 1-ounce of Organic 100% Concord Grape Juice (not from concentrate) to every 3 1/2 cups Kombucha. Make sure to top off each glass jar so that you only leave about 1 to 2 ounces of air before sealing. This will help create a nice fizz.

Cap the jars or bottles tightly, date them and leave out in the same spot you fermented the tea the first time. 

This is the really hard part, waiting around for the Kombucha to get fizzy and flavorful! It took me 6 days and may take you anywhere from 5 to 10 days depending on warmth in the area you are using. 

Once it is fizzy enough, move the capped bottles to the fridge to slow down fermentation and Enjoy!