Kinds of Tea for Kombucha

[magnoliastreet]

Is it okay to use Yerba Mate tea for brewing Kombucha?

I like the green and black, but how great would it be to get the benefits of Mate and Kombucha together!

[Jojo F.]

I suppose you could try it with a spare scoby. So far I have only used black tea but I am an extreme novice when it comes to kombucha.

This is wiki but it does say that yerba has a small amount of caffeine, not a lot though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate

[Taedareth]

I've read conflicting stories on this subject. Some people say they've successfully brewed kombucha with herbal teas and red tea. Others say part of kombucha's health-promoting abilities are the result of converting certain compounds unique to black/green tea. So although I'm sure you can make kombucha with plain water and sugar or herbal tea and sugar, perhaps something in the tea leaves themselves nourish the culture. I don't know.