Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Got my anemic little scoby in the mail, it was thin and small, floated to the bottom of the jar of cooled tea instantly. I live in a big drafty old farmhouse so not a lot of heat here. I put it in an upstairs room close to the heating vent, put a coffee filter over it secured with a rubber band and covered it with a towel to keep it in the dark. Kept checking on scoby and noticed a film at the top of the jar but not much else. After a couple of days, it floated to the top and joined the snot party that by now was already going on. I checked it every couple of days and noticed lots of "snot" on the top of the tea. Lost tea due to evaporation so that I had about 3/4 of a jar of tea instead of a full gallon. On day 11, I took the mother out and my "baby" which was HUGE because it had more area to grow in due to all the tea that had evaporated ( the jar gets more narrow as it gets to the top) and was 4 times the size of the mother. It was 5 1/2 inches in diameter and 3/4 of an inch wide at it's thickest point. The mother did not grow together with the baby, it remained separate. The tea was tart and fizzy and even my picky husband had to admit he liked it. I got mine from poseymom and paid 15.60 for it, I didn't get it as cheaply as they are going for now. I had to cut the giant scoby into 4 pieces to start new tea batches and it was a surprise to me that it was not so easy to cut, I thought it would be a gelatinous goo but it was a thick, rubbery membrane that took work to cut through with the scissors. I am very pleased with the new scoby and the tea that both came from that skinny little mother. Good things DO come in small packages!