Naturally Flavoring Water Kefir
If you’re looking to elevate your water kefir with a bit of delicious flavor, I have some favorite ways of flavoring water kefir. And they are really simple to make at home!
Homemade water kefir is a great way to get in nutritious, good for you probiotics.
If you’re new to making your own water kefir, I have a post with tips for getting started. Learn more here: homemade water kefir.
How to flavor water kefir
After your water kefir is finished with the fermenting process, strain the grains and set aside to make up your next batch.
Take the finished water kefir and use a funnel to pour into flip top Grolsch bottles – only filling about half way full.
Next, you’ll add in your flavoring directly to the bottle and then top off with more of the water kefir. Make sure to leave about a 1 inch of headspace in the bottle.
Favorite flavor combinations
I’m sharing a few of our family favorite ways to flavor our homemade water kefir. But, there really are so many options to choose from! So, I suggest testing out a variety of your favorite flavor combinations!
My absolute favorite go-to is an herby combination of lemon balm leaf & lavender. It makes a such a refreshing sweet drink that is a bit reminiscent of a sweet tea that I used to drink at my favorite natural shop in California.
Most of my favorite water kefir combinations involve brewed herbal teas. And I like to to source organic dried herbs in bulk at Mountain Rose Herbs. They have such a great variety of natural bulk items to choose from!
Tip: grind the dried herbs a bit with a mortar and pestle to break them up slightly before brewing.
I have a lot of my my favorite fermenting tools and supplies listed here.
Lemon Balm & Lavender
Add 4 teaspoons of dried lemon balm with 1 teaspoon of dried lavender in a tea strainer. Pour over 3/4 cup of hot filtered water and brew for about 5 minutes. Strain off the herbs and allow the hot herbal tea to cool down.
Pour into the Grolsch bottles (divide into 2-3 bottles depending on how much water kefir you’re using), top off with the finished fermented water kefir, leaving 1” of headspace, and add the lid. Set these filled bottles in a dark place (pantry or cupboard) at room temperature for 1-3 days until desired flavor is reached.
It is important to “burp” the bottles periodically to avoid too much pressure from building up. To do this, just open the lids carefully and release a bit of the pressure build up. Then replace in storage until they are finished with the second fermentation.
Dried fruit
Use any combination of your favorite dried fruits. About 1 teaspoon per Grolsch bottle has given us great results. But play around and test them out until you reach your favorite flavor combination and strength of flavor.
Here are a few suggestions:
- 1-2 raisins, dried cranberries, or blueberries
- 1 teaspoon dehydrated orange peel and ginger
- 1/2 inch slice of fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon dried strawberries
- 1 teaspoon each of dehydrated orange peel and grapefruit peel
- dehydrated lime peel and dried mint tea – gives it mojito vibes!
To make these flavors work, you simply add them to 3/4 cups of hot filtered water and allow to brew for about 5 minutes. Then strain them off, and allow the brew to cool down before adding the flavor to the water kefir.
Pour into the Grolsch bottles, top off with fermented water kefir, leaving 1” of headspace, and add the lid. Set these filled bottles in a dark place at room temperature for 1-3 days until desired flavor is reached.
And don’t forget to “burp” the bottles!
Move the finished flavored water kefir to the refrigerator and enjoy for a daily dose of delicious probiotics!
More of our favorite homemade sources of probiotics:
