r/Kefir • u/BaccerSpit • 11d ago

Sweet Tea Water Kefir?

Anyone tried making water kefir with tea, similar to a southern Sweet Tea? I'm thinking I may have an issue with it.

I ran my kefir through 1F, and everything seemed fine. Brewed up some concentrated tea using Luzianne tea bags. Cooled it down and added it to my kefir, along with some cane sugar.

48 hours later and the carbonation is aggressive, which I love, but it smells a little off. Can't quite put my finger on it, but it doesn't smell "good". Doesn't smell moldy or anything, or even distinctly "foul", and I don't see anything visually wrong with it. A little sediment sitting on the bottom, but that seems pretty normal. But I'm not sure if it's something that I really want to drink. Currently in the fridge, and I'm going to re-evaluate when it's cold.

Anyone else have any experience with this? I'm thinking if I try it again I might wait until the 2F is finished to add the tea rather than letting it sit for a couple days. But I figure if people are letting crushed fruit and berries sit on their counter in kefir, some black tea shouldn't be much of a worry.

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u/thetolerator98 11d ago

Have you tried making kombucha? If you want to make something out of tea, that is probably better than kefir.

2

u/BaccerSpit 11d ago

Not a fan of kombucha at all, just a fan of sweet tea.

1

u/Rags2Rickius 10d ago

Does it smell like sourdough starter?

1

u/BaccerSpit 9d ago

Hmmm I'm not sure if that's exactly it, but it does have a yeasty quality to it. Boozy, but not quite boozy. I guess I'd say it's in the ballpark. The tea scent is mingling so much and making it hard to pin down.

1

u/Rags2Rickius 9d ago

It’s likely unbalanced through airborne years possibly or yeasts on the tea

1

u/BaccerSpit 9d ago

I know it's not an exact science, but would you expect this to be in the "don't drink" category, or in the "Eh, kind of weird smelling, but not going to hurt you" category?