I finally had the ingredients to get this done. I tried to find a recipe that I would like but I could not. I wanted to make it without a scoby and use only a bottle of store bought kombucha that is pasteurized for the starter. I can’t get a scoby here in town that I know of so I would have to order it online. I have tried to make it this way before and it really worked, just using the kombucha, it just takes longer. The gallon jars at the store are crazy expensive so I am using a pickle jar. I washed it out and it does not smell like pickles at all. I boiled some water with 10 black tea bags. I read that using tea like Earl Grey is prohibited because of the oil in the tea leaves, so just straight black tea. I thought about green tea but I don’t like the taste. I added 1.5 cups of sugar as well. I found a recipe that had only 2/3 cup of sugar and 2 tbs of tea for 1 gallon. I was afraid that the fermentation process wouldn’t work as well since I am NOT using a scoby as the starter, so I added more sugar and tea. I let the tea cool after I boiled the sugar and tea! (Wait to add the kombucha till the end). Thank goodness someone’s recipe mentioned to let it cool. I assume that the heat of the water would kill the yeast in the bottle of kombucha that I am adding at the end. I did add it to slightly warm tea. Then a paper towel on top so it can breathe. I remember it taking several weeks for the scoby to form. It forms a gel like substance and then the whole scoby forms and becomes thick. You can separate it and put it into another jar and have two. Store it in a dark, warm-ish closet or cabinet. Finally! I have been thinking of this for weeeeekzzz…
I started this on July 28th and it is now September 9th….
It really worked!! The scoby or mother is super thick!
This is different than store kombucha, and really sour! I poured out some of this kombucha into a coffee cup and then took 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of it to 1/4 of a teaspoon of sugar and added that to a fresh cup of tea that I brewed in the coffee pot, also a couple of splashes of lime juice.
then I put that coffee cup of the strong kombucha into the fridge, covered.
October 14th
I have been drinking some of this mostly every day, but I left the rest in this jar and now it looks like this!! so now I need to take out one of the mothers and put it in a different jar or take out all of them and redo the tea again. I am not sure how long it will take this time since I have a mother already.. 
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