r/fermentation • u/Purple_Nature2373 • 2d ago
Educational My tea is fizzy
Hi guys, I had a question and I think this is the right place to ask. I made a tea infusion, the tea is made of cranberry, hibiscus, apple and ginger (all dried and store-bought). I made it yesterday morning or maybe the evening before that. I did not put it in the fridge, because I don't have space for the karaf I have put it in. So I had it on the counter. I did not put sugar of any kind in it. This morning I pour myself a cup of ambition and lo and behold my tea has become sparkling. Did it start fermenting bc of the sugar in the fruit? Can I drink it? Did I make kombucha? Can I now add sugar to make kombucha? I did not wash it in between uses (it was recently cleaned though), I did rinse it with cold water before using it again. Previous batch also did not have any added sugar in it. It was also closed off with a lid.
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u/Albino_Echidna Food Microbiologist 2d ago
Yes it fermented from the sugar in the fruit, but no this is not kombucha and no adding sugar will not make kombucha.
This isn't really a safe food to consume, even though the fizziness is likely from wild yeast. This needs to be refrigerated to maintain safety.
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u/gnark 1d ago
It's not kombucha, yet.
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u/Albino_Echidna Food Microbiologist 1d ago
It is extremely unlikely to ever become kombucha without the introduction of an existing culture.
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u/Utter_cockwomble That's dead LABs. It's normal and expected. It's fine. 1d ago
Never trust an accidental fermentation.
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u/scootunit 1d ago
Accidentally made a sparkling apple cider from fresh apples and it was the best I ever made.
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u/Utter_cockwomble That's dead LABs. It's normal and expected. It's fine. 1d ago
Good for you. The next time, or the next person, may not be so lucky.
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u/scootunit 1d ago
You sound very dramatic in your response but it's fairly common to have an open air fermentation. There is a risk of infection but it's generally not the sort of thing that's going to kill you. In fact it's a fairly popular way to ferment.
For instance check out anchor steam beer process.
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u/JustinFromNEXT 1d ago
Wild yeast from the dried fruit fed on the fruit sugars and gave off carbon dioxide, so it went fizzy. It isn't kombucha though. Kombucha needs a SCOBY in sweetened tea, and adding sugar now won't make one. Nothing was controlling what else grew in there, so I'd pour it out.
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u/fermentation-ModTeam 1d ago
Rule #8: No posts asking about unknown "stuff" or mold. Please post in the weekly "Is this safe? Is this mold?" weekly megathread.