What causes green tea to ferment?!
Posted: Feb 18th, '06, 16:47
I wasn't able to find this topic but has anyone else had this problem of the tea tasting like it has become fermented? I'll outline the occasions when I can remember it happening:
-Brewing with "sun tea" method (would always occur)
-Refrigerating the green tea and drinking it the next day
-Not refrigerating the gree tea and drinking it 1-2 days later
I don't really use the sun tea method anymore but this happened a couple of times.
When I make a larger quantity of green tea and then refrigerate, it usually becomes bitter but once in a while has the beer taste like it has fermented.
I'm not sure if green tea must be refrigerated but if I save some tea for the next day it usually is not bitter if I do not refrigerate it, but I've had the fermented taste too before when leaving it out.
I usually just use grocery store type brands like Lipton, Salada, Celestial Seaonings, etc. I also sweeten with honey and demerara sugar to keep consistent with the health benefits (and certainly not contaminant it with those chemicals or bleached sugar!) of the green tea.
So I'm just curious if anybody here knows of what causes this fermentation, and perhaps I'm brewing it wrong or use too cheap of tea or sweetening when it's too hot or too cold? I just want to be able to make enough tea at once to save for later and not have it taste like beer (do not drink alcohol).
-Brewing with "sun tea" method (would always occur)
-Refrigerating the green tea and drinking it the next day
-Not refrigerating the gree tea and drinking it 1-2 days later
I don't really use the sun tea method anymore but this happened a couple of times.
When I make a larger quantity of green tea and then refrigerate, it usually becomes bitter but once in a while has the beer taste like it has fermented.
I'm not sure if green tea must be refrigerated but if I save some tea for the next day it usually is not bitter if I do not refrigerate it, but I've had the fermented taste too before when leaving it out.
I usually just use grocery store type brands like Lipton, Salada, Celestial Seaonings, etc. I also sweeten with honey and demerara sugar to keep consistent with the health benefits (and certainly not contaminant it with those chemicals or bleached sugar!) of the green tea.
So I'm just curious if anybody here knows of what causes this fermentation, and perhaps I'm brewing it wrong or use too cheap of tea or sweetening when it's too hot or too cold? I just want to be able to make enough tea at once to save for later and not have it taste like beer (do not drink alcohol).