Like many of you, I never knew there was such a thing as kefir water. I was only aware of the milky kefir occasionally found in health food stores. I was intrigued by the idea of a simple-to-make kefir water, so I purchased these kefir grains, in hopes that the probiotic water will help with overall gut health. The package shipped quickly, and knowing that they're perishable, I unpacked them right away. The grains appeared to be vibrantly fresh, at least to my untrained eye.As this was my first time making kefir water, I was nervous. I don't have a green thumb AT ALL. I know these aren't plants per se, but still, I was afraid I was going to kill them immediately. After unpacking, I placed the grains in a bowl of room-temperature tap water to rest for 20-30 minutes. I'm grateful to live in an area that has good, mineral-rich, non-chlorinated well-water, so I used tap water instead of bottled spring water.While they were soaking, I dissolved some pure unrefined cane sugar in warm tap water, along with a small clump of ancient left-over brown sugar, and added a tablespoon of molasses as per the directions. Once the grains had soaked for a sufficient amount of time, I strained them and transferred them to a large mason jar. I filled the jar about half-way with fresh tap water (tepid), then added in the dissolved sugar water, topping off the jar with more tap water, and stirred the grains around gently with a long wooden spoon. Instead of a lid, I secured a piece of cloth to the top of the jar with a rubber band, put the jar in the pantry, and hoped for the best.After 12 hours or so, I gave the grains another gentle stir, added in a tiny pinch of baking soda, replaced the cloth and back to the dark pantry the jar went for another 36 hours or so. Initially the liquid tasted like mildly-sweet water. But by the third day, most of the sweetness had disappeared, replaced by a sharp tang. I assumed this meant it was ready for the second stage.I strained out the grains, and was surprised and delighted to see that they had actually DOUBLED in volume! Not only had I not killed them (yay!), they apparently loved their new digs. I put the grains in a bowl of fresh tap water to rest, while I transferred the dark, tangy brew to another jar. To the brew I added some chopped up mango, half of a cut up lemon, and a dash of vanilla extract. I used a jar with a hinged lid, and closed it, but "burped" it occasionally over the next 24 hours to let out excess carbonation.After resting in clear tap water for 20-30 minutes, the grains went back into a sugar water mixture, this time just pure cane sugar, no brown sugar or molasses. I'm hoping for a lighter colored brew next time, not quite as dark and dense as this first one. When I went to decant this first brew, some grains were floating at the top, so I strained those out separately, and hesitantly nibbled on one. The taste was mild, and the texture not at all off putting, kind of like slightly gummy rice. So I ate up all the floaters for extra probiotic goodness, and at some point I may take extra grains and blend them into a smoothie or mix them in with yogurt or some such.The next day I tasted my brew, and was happy to discover that the mango had added back some sweetness to the drink, and the vanilla seemed to have smoothed out any overly-tangy rough edges. I declared it done, and poured myself a glass, over ice. It tasted similar to a fruity, mildly sweet wine spritzer or apple cider...delicious! Even my picky elderly mother enjoyed her glass, shocker!Other reviewers had warned that the first couple of batches may not be as tasty as later batches, but I'd call my first batch a roaring success. I'm curious to see how this next batch turns out, but if the grains double again, I'm gonna be in trouble. I'm already trying to figure out which of my friends to gift some to, and if nothing else, I'll feed them to my plants and my cats and the outside critters, and of course eat some myself. Good stuff!I'm glad that my main problem is trying to figure out what to do with all these extra grains, rather than worrying that I'm going to kill them. I certainly needn't have worried, they're jubilant happy campers! Maybe a bit too exuberant, but if they can pass on some of that joie de vivre to me, I'll take it!I HIGHLY recommend Florida Sun Kefir's product. They obviously put a lot of love and care into providing healthy and lively grains, and making sure that they arrive safely and securely. Many thanks! If you're making a purchase, I sure hope you have more friends than I do, to take those extra grains off your hands...get your phone book ready.Along those lines, I was researching water kefir grains the other night, and learned that you can't make them from scratch. Their centuries-old origin is cloaked in mystery. You can't create them, all you can do is propagate them. So by purchasing these grains and passing them on to others, you're helping to sustain the life cycle of this wondrous entity. It's too soon to tell what, if any, benefits to my health I'll experience from daily consumption, but I'll try to update in a month or so. Happy kefiring!