How to make jun tea

Jun tea is a traditional fermented tea made with green or white tea and honey. Everyone knows about kombucha, but Jun is still relatively rare and unknown. There are some stores that sell Jun cultures online, or you can get one from someone who may gift you a daughter culture. We received our Jun culture from our good friend Mariëlle Janssen. She told us about the process of taking care of a Jun culture and the benefits of the Jun tea. After trying out the tea we were amazed by its flavors. We found it tastes almost champagne-like, but more sour. A new flavor we could not keep a "secret" from you. Let's get started!

Ingredients for Jun tea

• 1 liter water
• 2 teaspoons of green tea leaves
• Scant of honey, preferably raw honey
• 1 Jun culture
• 1/2 cup Jun tea from a previous brew

Jun tea ingredients

Kitchen equipment needed

• Large jar or pitcher
• Second large jar or pitcher
• Kettle
• Fine-mesh sieve

Preparation

Boil 1 liter of water in the kettle and pour the hot water over the green tea leaves. Allow the tea to steep for a few minutes. Strain the green tea through a fins-mesh sieve into the second pitcher. Squeeze in some (raw) honey. Allow the tea to cool off to room temperature. This is very important otherwise the Jun culture will die because of boiling hot water.

Dump in the Jun culture along with 1/2 cup tea from a previous batch or brew. Keep two large jars for swapping the Jun culture every 2 to 3 days, use one and clean the other. The time depends on your taste, it will get more sour every day. Allow the tea to ferment over a period of 2 to 3 days. Then, carefully remove the Jun culture and 1/2 cup jun tea and repeat the same process. Make sure the equipment you're using is made from plastic, stainless steel isn't good for the jun culture. Use a different jar or pitcher for this and clean the used one. Enjoy!

What's so different about Jun tea and Kombucha?

The main difference is that Jun tea best ferments in green tea sweetened by raw honey. Kombucha on the other hand best ferments in black tea sweetened by sugar. There's also a distinct taste difference between kombucha and jun tea. Jun tea is more delicate and not as sour as kombucha. Jun cultures also typically completes its fermentation process much faster than kombucha does. Though it reproduces more unreliable, hence its harder to come by a Jun culture. Jun tea is best kept in a cool kitchen, where kombucha needs warmth to ferment properly.

Enjoy your jun tea!

Tip: store the jun culture on a light but slightly cool spot in your kitchen.