What SCOBY Color is The Healthiest?
Kombucha SCOBY cultures (sometimes termed kombucha mushrooms) can range in colour from almost white, yellow, a light brown, and a dark brown.
None of these different colors necessarly indicate an ‘off’ culture or any sort of serious problem, but which one is the healthiest?
What Different SCOBY Colors Mean
Different colored SCOBYs can mean different things. The most common SCOBY colors are:
- white
- yellow
- light brown
- dark brown
However, we can roughly break these up into two shades: pale and dark. If you want to know what the difference between brown, yellow, and white SCOBYs might be, read our article about it.
Pale vs Dark SCOBYs
Typically you either have a dark or a light SCOBY. The color can indicate some interesting things about your tea type and your SCOBY health.
Pale SCOBYs
If your SCOBY remains relatively pale in color even when brewing with black tea, then this can indicate a very low yeast population. As the kombucha microbial population is made up of a balance of yeasts and bacteria, it is important to keep this balance in order to achieve good ferments. Usually it is the yeasts which get the upper hand, especially as time goes on. However, if you think that your yeast population is struggling and not increasing in size or strength, then have a look at this post for a list of methods that you can implement to encourage it, What to Do If There is No Carbonation (Fizz) in My Kombucha.
Pale SCOBYs are usually young cultures, or cultures which have not been exposed to tea which contained tannins, like black tea. SCOBYs which are brewed in green tea are usually the whitest. Pale SCOBYs can also indicate a low yeast population. The yeasts within the SCOBY tend to give it a brown tinge. Therefore, if there is a low yeast population within your SCOBY, then it will usually take longer to turn brown. The brown strands and blobs which float free within your brew are also yeasts, that are clumping together to form these strings. If you see a lot of these, this is a sign that the yeasts are on the rise.
Also note that pale (white) SCOBYs are also dependent on the type of tea you use. For example, if you brew with Green Tea, you are more likely to get white SCOBYs than if you use a black tea base, due to the higher tannin content. Darker teas also tend to stain the SCOBY brown or yellow.
Dark SCOBYs
There are a few reasons why you may have a dark SCOBY:
- the SCOBY is old
- the SCOBY has a high yeast concentration in it or on the surface
- the SCOBY was submerged inside the kombucha and not on the surface
- the SCOBY is stained dark due to the tea color (especially darker teas like black tea)
The SCOBY may be dark for all of these reasons, one of them, or some of them.
Dark SCOBYs are usually SCOBYs which are quite old. This is because as SCOBYs are exposed to batches of black tea they become stained. As mentioned above, a brown colored SCOBY can also be indicative of an active yeast population. As the yeasts tend to dominate with time, these two causes go hand in hand.
Dark SCOBYs are not unhealthy; however there are two things to keep in mind.
- Dark SCOBYs are usually mature and have been through quite a few brewing cycles. While you can brew with an old SCOBY, they do sometimes lose their vitality and brewing power. It is then a good idea to swap the old culture out for a new one.
- The second consideration is that dark SCOBYs can be an indication of a rampant yeast population. If the yeasts are dominating the bacteria, this is not a good situation and needs to be brought under control. For guidelines on how to subdue the yeasts and encourage the bacteria read What to Do If There is Too Much Fizz in My Kombucha.
Which Color is Better
If you are selecting a new SCOBY to brew with, then it is usually a good idea to select the thickest (within reason) whitest, and densest SCOBY on hand. Doing this will ensure that the bacteria have the upper hand at the start, which means that it will take longer for the yeasts to start competing with them. You can read our article that tells you what a healthy SCOBY looks like.
Brown cultures are not necessarily unhealthy. They may have a high yeast populations, or they may merely be stained dark by the tea which they are in. There are some situations where you might want a higher yeast concentration, but usually for new batches, you don’t.
If you are getting good ferments, then that is an indication that your SCOBY is getting the job done and is healthy. However you should always save some baby SCOBYs as you go in a SCOBY hotel. This way when your brewing culture gets old you can swap it out for a nice white fresh one, and you also have some room to experiment with out-of-the-box ingredients which can impact the health of the culture which they come into contact with.