[richeyryan]

You also don't need the mat, also known as the pellicle, to start brewing kombucha. It is entirely redundant. Just get a couple of bottles of unpasteurised, unflavoured kombucha and use that as your starter, along with the fresh tea and sugar. Those kombucha starter kits with a pellicle are just a big scam.

[rcpt]

You can just use whatever store bought Kombucha to get going. Of course if you find any scoby on Craigslist it's guaranteed to be an interesting encounter