I started making Chaga Jun this summer in Quebec, and it has become one
of my most favourite drinks. One friend had said it tasted somewhere
between Beer and Ayahuasca! Later on in the summer, back in Nova
Scotia, I found a big one while hiking on McNabs Island in Halifax
Harbour, and got quite a few batches of both Chaga Jun and Chaga
Berry-Fermented Mead.
More recently, I was reading an ethnobotany book about the Cree Peoples
of Eastern Saskacthewan. It said the predominant sweet tea they drank
was made with Chaga and the bark of Birch Roots. So, I harvested some
more Chaga, the bark of Golden Birch (the ground is still frozen to be
harvesting the root bark), and the resulting drink has been so
vitalizing, so rich in ethers...
Having read Paul Stamets article about Kombucha ( http://www.fungi.com/info/articles/blob.html
), and having become educated about Herbal Antibiotics in the book of
the same name by Stephen Harrod Buhner, I have been always using
antibiotic herbs in my fermented teas for 9 months now. Juniper is the
one I use most commonly, and my staple Fermented Tea is
'Jasmine-Juniper Jun'. In the Chaga Jun, Birch Bark is the antibiotic
agent, and I also will use Pine, Pau d'Arco, Noni, Orange Leaf, and
Ginger.
Actually, I was in Costa Rica for three months this winter, and I
brought a Jun Culture with me. I was making Noni Leaf/Orange Lead Tea,
both antipathogenic, and would then add fresh chunks of ginger directly
in to the brew. Ginger has a natural yeast, making it so popular in the
brewing arts. Potentially, having taken my Jun back to Canada with me,
the Ginger Yeast is still a thriving organism within the culture!
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