{"id":13404,"date":"2019-08-23T00:15:04","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T07:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nourishedkitchen.com\/?p=13404"},"modified":"2020-05-18T15:32:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T22:32:32","slug":"how-to-make-jun-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nourishedkitchen.com\/how-to-make-jun-tea\/","title":{"rendered":"Jun Tea (Green Tea Kombucha)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Shrouded with mysticism and mystery, Jun tea<\/strong> is a fermented tonic made of green tea and honey. \u00a0While Kombucha tea lines the shelves of natural foods markets, both small and large, Jun tea is still relatively unknown - secreted away and held quiet.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"jun<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is Jun Tea?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jun tea is a naturally effervescent fermented drink<\/a> made with green tea and raw honey. It's related to kombucha and, like kombucha, you need a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) to brew jun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you introduce the SCOBY, or jun mother, to room temperature green tea that's been sweetened with honey, the bacteria and yeast in the mother will reproduce and culture the tea. In this process, they'll produce a lively, probiotic elixir that tastes slightly tart and slightly sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like kombucha<\/a>, water kefir<\/a>, beet kvass<\/a>, and other fermented drinks, you can ferment Jun twice to make it bubbly. The first fermentation happens in an open jar, lightly covered with a cloth. The second fermentation happens in sealed bottles, which capture carbon dioxide and make the brew fizzy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How do you pronounce Jun? <\/strong> You pronounce jun so that it rhymes with \"run\" instead of like the month \"June.\"<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Myth and Mystery of Jun Tea<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jun tea is shielded behind a veil of secrecy, myth, mysticism, and mystery.  Legend holds that Jun originated in the Himalayas. And that monks and spiritual warrior nomads who roamed the high grasslands of Tibet were the first to brew Jun (1). But, there's little concrete evidence or verifiable information that supports either its spiritual or Tibetan origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrarily, there's some speculation that Jun is a rather new<\/em> offshoot of kombucha that likely originated somewhere in the Pacific Northwest (2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Jun's origin, Sandor Katz writes in The Art of Fermentation<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The lack of credible information on Jun leads me to the conclusion that it is a relatively recent divergence<\/strong> from the Kombucha family tree.  Some websites claim that it comes from Tibet, where it has been made for 1,000 years; unfortunately, books on Tibetan food, and even a specialized book on Himalayan ferments, contain no mention of it.  Whether or not it has a 1,000-year-old history, it is quite delicious.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Others argue that because honey is less processed than sugar and that because green tea is less processed than black tea, jun must have preceded kombucha. But, there's little evidence to support the claim that because jun uses less refined ingredients than kombucha, it must have come first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oft-repeated mystical lore that surrounds Jun leaves me to wonder, why do we need the justification of \"sacredness\" to enjoy what is, quite simply, a beautiful and delicate drink?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What's the difference between Jun and Kombucha<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, if Jun tea has unreliable origins, you might wonder just how it differs from kombucha, if it really does differ and why it's worth brewing at all. Whether Jun tea is a new divergence from kombucha or if it really is a 1,000-year-old ferment, the simple truth is this: Jun differs from Kombucha in several key ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n