Who loves water kefir?
I DO! I enjoy a glass of water kefir with dinner almost every night. It’s my delicious, fizzy little evening treat, plus it throws all those beneficial bacteria and yeasts into my gut to help my digestion and overall health. What’s not to love?
If you’re new to water kefir and don’t know how to make it, I recommend you read this “How to Make Water Kefir” post. This post will teach you the nitty gritty and get you started on your kefir brewin’ journey.
I have been asked by countless readers to share different flavor ideas for water kefir. The awesome thing about water kefir is that you can really flavor it however you want. It is very forgiving and you can be as creative as you’d like. Everything from fruit, to juice, to herbs, to flowers. The sky is the limit for creativity!
Cherry Limeade Water Kefir
Before we get started, here are a few notes:
- For all of these recipes, proportions are what I use for my 1 liter flip-top bottles (like the ones in the picture at the top of this post). If you’re using smaller or larger bottles, you can adjust the proportions. So, for each of the recipes below, you would use 1 quart of brewed water kefir.
- There really is no science to water kefir. It’s rather forgiving and very customizable.
- Always leave some head space. As you can see from the title image, I leave a few inches in my 1 liter bottles. So, I probably use about 3 cups of water kefir per 1 liter bottle.
- You’ll notice that I use lemon or lime juice in almost every recipe. For some reason, lemon or lime juice has just become customary in all of my water kefir flavors. Not sure why. You can eliminate it if you’d like.
- You can use fresh fruit or fruit juice, whichever you have on hand. If you use fruit, make sure it’s chopped up or puréed, so the flavors release.
- For any of these, you can create a mineral-rich stinging nettle water kefir for an added nutritional boost. Brew your nettle tea, add sugar, cool, add your water kefir grains, ferment as usual. Flavor however you like. For full instructions on how to do this, please read this post: Ferment The Nettle Harvest.
- I am sharing some of my family’s favorite flavors in the guide below, but I encourage you to try whatever combination you think sounds good! I am constantly experimenting!
Cranberry Lemonade and Peach Lemonade Water Kefir
Let’s Get Fizzy With It! Your Water Kefir Flavor Guide
All recipes for approx. 1 quart of brewed water kefir. Learn how to make water kefir here.
Basic Lemonade or Limeade (or Lemon-Lime Ade)
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
and/or
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
Blueberry Lemonade
6-10 fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Citrus Berry Blast
3-4 fresh or frozen blueberries
3-4 fresh or frozen raspberries
3-4 fresh or frozen blackberries
2-3 strawberries, chopped
1 tbsp. lemon or lime juice
1/2 tbsp. elderberries (fresh or dried)
Cherry Limeade
6-8 fresh cherries (pits removed)
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Strawberry Lemon or Lime Ade
4-5 fresh strawberries
1 tbsp. fresh lime or lemon juice
Strawberry Peach Lemonade
4-5 fresh strawberries
2 tbsp. fresh pureed peach or 2 tbsp. peach juice
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Strawberry Kiwi Lemonade
4-5 fresh strawberries
1/2 kiwi
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Vitamin C-Booster
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. orange juice
1 tbsp rosehips (dried or fresh)
1/2 tbsp. elderberries
Zest from one organic orange
Tropical Beach in a Glass
If you’re feeling adventurous, stir in some coconut milk when serving for a slightly fizzy, creamy treat!
1 tbsp. pineapple juice
1 tbsp. orange juice
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
Tangy Pomegranate Cranberry
1 tbsp. pomegranate juice
6 fresh cranberries
1 tsp. fresh lime juice
Cranberry Lemonade
10 fresh cranberries
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Strawberry Hibiscus Cooler
4 strawberries, sliced or chopped
1/2 tbsp. organic hibiscus leaves
1 tsp. fresh lime juice
Orange Carrot Fizz
1 tbsp. carrot juice
1 tbsp. orange juice
Citrus “Mojito”
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. orange juice
1 tbsp mint leaves, chopped
Fizzy Mango-Mint “Agua Fresca”
2 tbsp. fresh mango (chopped) or mango juice
1 tbsp. fresh mint leaves (chopped)
Mango Colada
2 tbsp. fresh mango or juice
2 tbsp. fresh pineapple or juice
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
Vanilla Cream Soda
2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla powder
1 tsp. sugar
Orange Cream Soda
If you’re feeling adventurous, stir in some coconut milk when serving for a slightly fizzy, creamy treat!
2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla powder
2 tbsp. fresh orange juice
Ginger Lemon Cooler
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. to 1 tbsp. fresh grated ginger (depends on how gingery you want it)
1/2 tbsp. lemon zest
Citrus Pomegranate Cooler
1 tbsp. grapefruit juice
1 tbsp. orange juice
1 tbsp. pomegranate juice
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. orange zest
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
Peachy Melon Cooler
1 tbsp. fresh honeydew
1 tbsp. fresh cantaloupe
1 tbsp. fresh peach
1 tsp. lime juice
1 tsp. lemon juice
Peachy Lemonade
2 tbsp. fresh peaches or peach juice
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Blackberry Lavender Fizz (inspired by this recipe)
5 fresh blackberries
1-2 tsp. lavender flowers (depends on how lavender-y you want it)
Orange Spice Water Kefir
2 tsp. orange spice herbal tea blend (caffeine free)
I use this kind from Frontier
Cucumber Melon Mint Fizz
2 tbsp. fresh honeydew
2 tbsp. fresh cucumber
1 tbsp. fresh mint leaves
Whew! That’s a lot! And, there are thousands more recipe combinations just waiting to be discovered! It’s time to get creative in the kitchen! For further reading, check out these posts:
What is your favorite water kefir flavor? Leave a comment below!
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Yum!!! We love water kefir! Thanks for the great recipes. Pinning this now.
Thanks Danielle!!!
Wow, that’s a lot of really delicious sounding water kefir recipes! After brewing my own kombucha for awhile, I recently started brewing water kefir, and I think I like it even better! It took awhile for me to get the sugar combo down and to start brewing up some good water kefir, but it still takes about 5 days to get to the level of tartness/fizz that I like! I do a secondary ferment for a day, then refrigerate, and I don’t add anything to resulting brew, I thoroughly enjoy it as is. One of these days I’m going to have to try one of these lovely sounding recipes though!
Water kefir is so adaptable. You can do just about anything with it. I usually just end up combining different things that I have on hand. Sometimes it’s a win, sometimes not. I have had a number of batches that we just downright gross!
do you blend your fruit with the kefir after? I bet that would taste better?
I personally recommend pureeing (or finely chopping) your fruit before adding it to the second ferment. I prefer it pureed, though some people don’t and like to just strain off the fruit when it’s done. I discuss that in the notes section of this post. You certainly could blend your fruit with the kefir when it was done, but if you’re going to do that, you might as well just puree it at the start! Hope that helps — happy fermenting!
Some creative recipes. I have been using 1/2 raw grape juice in 1 liter kefir in my second ferment because I can readily get it. Do you find using 1 tbl of carrot juice and 1 tbl of oj really makes it flavorful? Doesn’t seem like enough juice.
Jessica, how do you clean your flip-top bottles? I have to use a bottle brush to scrub my Fido jars. I haven’t seen a scrubber that would fit inside the narrow neck of a flip-top.
Thx.
Hi Gopika – I find that these proportions suit my taste best, but you could always add more or less, depending on what you want!
Regarding cleaning, I rinse my bottles out immediately, and then I will use 1 drop of non-toxic dish soap and a bottle cleaning brush to scrub them really good. Then, I either sanitize by boiling them in water, or washing them out with white vinegar. Hope that helps! 
I brew my nettles with thyme and oregano…do you think they would kill off mt grains if I used that for first ferment?
Hi Diane – I have never used herbs for the first ferment, only the second. Here is a post on how to do it with nettles: http://www.deliciousobsessions.com/2012/04/52-weeks-of-bad-a-bacteria-week-17-ferment-the-nettle-harvest. You’ll want to do the first ferment with just sugar water and grains, and then add the herbal brew for the second ferment.
These are some great ideas! I tried using fresh mint leaves in my second ferment along with lemon, the leaves turned brown and unpleasant tasting. How did you use the mint?
Hi Krystal – I use the fresh leaves and strain them out before drinking. I haven’t had any problems with the taste, though I try not to use too many. Or, maybe my taste buds are not as sensitive as yours … that is very possible too!
hi, is it possible to add a link so that we can print out these suggestions????
Thanks!
Kato
Hi Kato – I will work on that this weekend!
Hi Jessica. I’m getting back into making water kefir and I’m reading all about airtight vs mason jars. Very interesting. I’m thinking of getting some fido jars or picklit jars. For the second ferment, I still use mason jars but I’m curious about using the flip top jars. It just seems that the neck is so narrow that it would be hard to put fruit in there, and to get the fruit out. Also, I’ll be putting bags of herbs in some of them. Do you find that it’s hard to get that stuff in and out of the jars? Do these jars make a big difference? Thanks!
Hi Cregan – Thanks for stopping by. I prefer to puree or very finely chop the fruit when I am using it. Honestly, pureed is my favorite. I like really fizzy water kefir and the flip-top bottles have been the only thing that has allowed me to get that. I never had good experiences with Mason jars. I have not had any problems getting the fruit out of the bottles, though I don’t use really big pieces either. To get the most benefit out of your herbs, it’s best to steep the herbs first in water, add the sugar, cool to room temp, add the WK grains, and then ferment the herb tea. One of my friends is an herbalist and she said just putting dried herbs in a second ferment of water kefir is not going to do much. Most herbs need to be steeped first to unlock the medicinal properties. Here is a tutorial on how to do that with nettles: http://www.deliciousobsessions.com/2012/04/52-weeks-of-bad-a-bacteria-week-17-ferment-the-nettle-harvest/. Does that help?
Hi there! I very recently began making kefir soda – I received my grains in the mail, “activated” them and am on my second batch. My question is this – while the kefir is fermenting, is it supposed to smell like spoiled milk? My batches have been smelling very sour and even after I bottle it with juice, it still smells sour and I haven’t been able to get any carbonation (in spite of the fact that I’m bottling the kefir soda in tight flip cap bottles). Any ideas what’s going wrong? Maybe my kefir grains aren’t all the way active yet? Thanks so much, I love your site and all the work you put into this post is very helpful!!
Julia recently posted..BBQ Pulled Pork Enchiladas
Hi Julia – I’ve never had that smell with my water kefir. Since they are somewhat new, I’d keep fermenting with them. Sometimes the grains, especially dehydrated grains, take a little while to get up and running when they are “brought back to life”. Once they get fully acclimated, they should start producing a better kefir. The water kefir should smell a tad sweet and kind of yeasty. Hope that helps and thanks for the kind words!
Hi! I’m now fermenting my kefir with airlock tops for 1st ferment, then moving it to 1L and 1/2L ex-cap bottles for 2nd ferment. After about 24 hours in the bottles, it gets a lot of pressure, and I have to open them very slowly. So it seems really fizzy at first, but then the fizz goes away really fast and it’s not fizzy once I put them in the fridge and want to enjoy a fizzy drink. Do you have any suggestions on how to keep the fizz? Do I need more sugar in second ferment? Or 2nd ferment longer? Should I “burp” it or would that make it lose fizz?
thanks!
Cregan
Hi Cregan – Great questions! I never open my bottles until I’m ready to drink them. So, I let the second ferment go for 1-3 days (depending on my house temp) and then move them to the fridge w/o opening them. I haven’t noticed mine going flat, as long as I drink the opened bottle within a day or two. I think water kefir can some times be finicky, b/c I’ve had batches that were completely flat after the second ferment and then other batches that spray the ceiling when I open it and I lose all of it! You could try adding a couple pinches of sugar to your second ferment and see if that improves it. Also, you could add a pinch of sugar to the bottle that you’ve opened and see if that helps re-create some fizz. I’ve never done that, but it could help. Play with the amount of sugar used and the duration of the 2nd ferment. I find that water kefir varies a lot from house to house, so what works for me might not work for you. Keep me posted and let me know what you discover.
Hello, can anyone tell me if water kefir expires or goes bad after a period of time?
Thank you.
Hi Carmen – I emailed you earlier about this, but in case you didn’t get it, here is my response:
No, it won’t spoil, though the longer it sits, the more alcohol that builds up, so keep that in mind. I have had some batches that I forgot about in the back of my fridge and when I opened them up, they were like wine. They still tasted good, but definitely had a punch, and if you were avoiding alcohol, then I wouldn’t advise drinking them. They continue to ferment for as long as they sit, so they’ll just get more and more alcoholic the longer they go.
I’d recommend drinking within in a week or two after brewing to ensure the least amount of alcohol, but that also will vary from batch to batch.
Hope that helps!