A glass teapot with a capacity of around one liter and a plastic or glass tea insert are used as the starting vessel.
The approach is made as with normal water kefir: The rinsed water kefir crystals are put into the teapot with the sugar, the dried fruit and the lemon slice, then it is filled with the cold water.
The loose tea leaves are used in the teapot. I use about 3 teaspoons per liter of water, the same amount I would use for a pot of regular black tea. Then the insert is hung in the teapot and the teapot is closed with the lid as normal. You may have to loosely seal the snipe of the teapot with a piece of kitchen paper so that no fruit flies are interested in the drink.
After about 2 days, the black tea-water kefir has become cloudy, then it is poured off through a plastic sieve and the liquid is collected. The water kefir crystals are rinsed off under cold running water and a new batch can be made.
The water kefir black tea is bottled and chilled for a day or two, or enjoyed straight away. Be careful with the bottles: the secondary fermentation can still build up a lot of pressure! So let some air up, do not screw the lid on too tight and store the bottles upright.
In contrast to normal water kefir, black tea water kefir is a bit bitter and tastes clearly stimulating like tea - a really delicious iced tea. I can`t say anything about the actual caffeine content.
As black tea you can certainly also use bag tea without metal clips, but I prefer loose black tea of slightly better quality that I would drink as well. Since, despite the use of a tea strainer in a normal teapot, a few tea crumbs always find their way between the water kefir crystals, which can never be completely removed, I recommend branching off a few crystals from a normal pure water kefir mixture for the ice tea.
As with normal water kefir, the quantities given are approximate, as is the resting time.
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