(Note to readers: This post originally appeared on June 11, 2007. The Update section at the bottom is new content for this post.)
Well, at least that's what it looked like to me.
On my lunch break today, I bought myself a bottle of Honest Tea's Heavenly Honey Green Tea to drink with my sandwich. I drink it sometimes because it is has less sugar than some of the other green tea drinks out there.
It is not uncommon when drinking it to see swirls of dark material floating around in the bottle, which dissipate when you shake the bottle. But today, after I had drank about 90% of the contents of the bottle, I picked it up from my desk for another swig and noticed something floating at the bottom. I shook the bottle a little but I did not see any dispersal going on. I held the bottle close to my eyes and peered up at it. What I saw resembled a jelly fish about the size of a Kennedy half dollar.
After showing it to my co-worker, which grossed her out a bit, I called the phone number listed on the bottle and was transferred to a man named Mike. I described to him what was in my bottle. He explained to me that sometimes the bottle loses its air tight seal and mold gets into the bottle. Basically, Mike said, what I had in my bottle was a non-pathogenic gelatinous mold that posed no harm to me. He apologized for it and asked for my address so that he could send me some coupons. I complied, but thought to myself, "Do I really want coupons to buy more of their products after what I saw floating around in my bottle?"
At any rate, if you ever buy any Honest Tea products, always look for any strange things floating around inside the bottle before you bring it to the cash register.
UPDATE: This must be a common occurrence, because a number of hits to this blog are generated from people searching "ice tea mold" or some other variation. I even managed to find a video on Youtube from some intrepid individual who recorded on video the moldy mass that formed in his bottle of Arizona Ice Tea.
150 comments:
You might want to get a second opinion on what is in that bottle. :)
Before I called Honest Tea, I tried calling New York City's 311 number to ask if they had anyone who could test it to see what it was, but they said they did not.
I still have the bottle sitting on my desk in case anything weird starts happening to me in the next day or two.
I'm glad your first reaction was not to call a lawyer. You don't know how many times I get calls (I'm a lawyer)from people that find things in their food, and immediately want to sue for a million dollars. They think they've hit the jackpot. Everybody wants a free ride.
This isn't to disparage people who are honestly injured by tainted food, such as the spinach e.coli outbreak, etc.
Hi John,
I work in a big law firm, so to paraphrase Faramir, "I have a host of lawyers at my call."
I'm just worried that the jellyfish mold, combined with some of my residual saliva, might evolve overnight into a new life form that kills off anyone working late tonight one by one.
Oh, good. Just keep the cap on tight.
If you feel funny tonight, take two aspirin and call your lawyer in the morning.
That just made me gag.
I found a bolt in my burrito at taco bell once. They wouln't even comp what I just ate, they just wanted to give me more. UM, no thanks.
tommy - that is SO disgusting! Like bigtex, I also would want a second opinion. Yucky, yucky spit spit!
My sister found a whole locust in a can of spinach once many years ago. She bit into it and thought it was a bit "tough" for canned spinach which is pretty mushy, and pulled it out of her mouth and saw what it was. The whole body was intact, complete with eyes and antenna. From that time on I have to thoroughly inspect everything I buy and cannot eat canned spinach.
Star, that totally grossed me out 8/
I have a pretty benign food story. My mom once bought a can of "Very Cherry" fruit cocktail (don't remember if it was Dole or Del Monte), but there was not a single cherry in it. So she called the company and they sent her a handful of coupons for free cans.
Tommy, the jellyfish-looking thing sounds nasty too. I like bottled green tea too, guess I'll stick with Snapple or Arizona Iced Tea versions.
I will hold onto the bottle for the rest of the week and if nothing happens to me I am sure no second opinion will be needed.
Just to be clear, it doesn't look the kind of jellyfish with tentacles. It's the non-tentacle kind you see washed up on the beach sometimes that looks sort of like a small silicone breast implant.
It's the non-tentacle kind you see washed up on the beach sometimes that looks sort of like a small silicone breast implant.
[Beavis mode: on]
Heheheh... he said, "breast".
[Beavis mode: off]
BTW, I got my two coupons for free bottles of their products yesterday. Still contemplating whether to use them or not.
The *exact* same thing happened to me at lunch yesterday (I found your post via google). Same brand, same favor. I felt something slimy when I took my first sip, and the tea tasted sour and lightly carbonated. The "jellyfish" was a few inches long, mostly clear with mottled brown & green. Did anything else ever come of this? I know some people drink fermented tea (kombucha) on purpose, but I wanted to check if the funky tea caused you any 'delayed after-effects'. If ya grew gills or can no longer complete your sentences, I want to know...
Hi Justin,
Sorry for the late reply as this is an older post and I don't always realize that comments have been added to them.
I seem to have suffered no ill effects from the "jellyfish" mold. I came across a video on Youtube recently in which someone filmed his jellyfish mold. I am going to see if I can find it and update the post to include the video.
This must be a really common thing, because I have had a number of hits to this blog from people searching similar things on Google.
well, maybe they should simply declare the gelatinous thing as part of the ingredients. in that way, people will not be so surprise.
Tagged re skeptic love.
I am the latest "Jelly fish" victim.....all I have to say is YUUUUCK! I noticed the tea tasted funny and decided to look in the bootle....ewwww. I drink Arizona Green Tea allll the time, but now I dont even think I can LOOK at another bottle.
Misery loves company...just found your blog entry after finding my own "jellyfish" in a bottle of diet peach Snapple. Gross! Thankfully, I only took one drink before the discovery. I found your blog while researching whether or not to expect "after effects"...thanks for the post...I feel better now.
I am finding my "jellyfish" a welcome friend at my desk. Thanks for the blog post. I feel much better that I am not alone -- don't quite know why I feel better, but I do.
I guess im the next victim of finding a "jellyfish" in the bottle of Arizona Tea. All i can say is that its gross and i thought that thing was going to come alive. Hope nothing happens to me...just brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth. it is nasty and people should be warned about it.
I too have just found the jellyfish at the bottle of Arizona Iced Tea. but It's like two big "breast implants" ...the tea reaks of mold.....yet, you can tell there is a high liquor content in it .....tempting. hmm. Not enough!
Luckily I happened to look into the bottle of Pomegranate Green Tea just before tipping one back... Huge brown slimy glob of mold floating rihgt on top! Thank god I didn't drink it straight... Because of the dark colored bottle you can't see it from the side. I will never drink from an Arizona bottle again. Maybe I'll pour it into a glass and the cans are probably okay... but really! Disgusting!
i'm shocked to find so many posts on jellyfish mold in the tea! i just found two floating in the very last glass from a gallon of dean's sweet tea bought at the gas station a couple days ago. i had planned to take it back to the gas station to complain...but i think i'll call dean's instead.
i'm just yucked out that i drank an entire gallon of the stuff....
Wow, this really is a widespread problem!
I'm surprised there haven't been any news segments devoted to this.
I just found the same thing in my glass of iced tea.
I just made the pitcher last night! And chugged almost one glass. When I went back to look at it, I was grossed out to see these jelly-fish like things. =(
Thanks for your blog. I too just had some honest tea heavenly green that had some serious growth issues with debris. Looks like the bottom of a murky algae laden pond. I was so thirsty I had drunk about half of it before I looked. I thought it had tasted a bit odd.
You make the effort to buy "healthy" and now I'm wishing I'd had a diet coke. I wonder if I should vomit. I hope I don't get violently ill.
I just found a "jellyfish" in my tea as well. I googled it to see if I was going to die and found this. I was drinking a gallon of Dean's Ice tea though and drank the whole thing before finding it!
I am the latest Jellyfish finder.
Best Choice Sweet Tea, Kansas City.
I took some amazing pictures of the stuff, after i poured the tea over a paper towel. link on my URL
They sampled the stuff and it came back non-pathogenic Mold.
I did get sick for a day, but it was over by the morning, and i did get some coupons, but not like I want that tea ever again, I can't even look at the label without getting sick. I actually ate some of them at first thinking it was bits of fruit for flavor. Also ever since then I have noticed I am lactose intolerant, how the hell can that even happen ??
I just bookmarked this page. This is hilarious. Particularly the 'kills off late-night coworkers, one by one' comment.
I wanted to know what was in the bottom of my Arizon Green Tea. So I actually googled "what's floating in my Arizon Green Tea" and this is one the hits. Gotta love bloggers sometimes.
Mine, however, was not a gelatinous mold. Just the dark swirly, flecky stuff. I brew tea occasionally, so I'm used to seeing the tea leaves and such from that, but I just did not expect to see anything like that in a store-bought, major brand bottle.
Glad you found this page informative, Rachel. Fortunately, none of my co-workers were killed by any mutant spawn! :-)
Typo91, it might be psychosomatic in nature. I'm lactose intolerant too, so I always have my Starbucks with soy milk.
I have become the latest victim of the insidious jelly mold in the ice tea phenomenon. I had a gallon jug of Lipton's left over from a birthday part. It was in the fridge for about a week. I just poured it for dinner and notice a 'glump glump' noise and chunks. My daughter asked if there was a tea bag in her drink. I screamed "DON'T DRINK IT!!" and immediately searched info so I will be prepared for anything.
Ok, so I drink Lipton Unsweetened tea EVERY day, and i mean faithfully drink it EVERY day!! I have so many tea bottles laying around my house it's a bit pathetic, but true.....what can i say with 3 kids that leave their cans and bottles lay around too, it gets hard to keep up, right? lol So I happened to pick up the "wrong" bottle, which i was looking for my newest and most fresh bottle(happened to be right next to the "wrong" one)and i took a huge drink out of it before even looking at it.....sure enough, it was an old tea bottle with mold(aka jellyfish) all over the bottom of the bottle. 1 1/2 days later- I have a major ear infection going on, and i've been sneezing like i havent ever sneezed before! It's horrible....do you think it's the weather or maybe now im infected by poisonous mold from an old tea?
I DRANK 2/3 OF A CAN OF Arizonia lemon ice tea when i felt a blob in my mouth. When i spit it out, it looked like a dead earth worm. The company said it was alternaria sp. a form of mold. Those factories have got to be pretty dirty. I'll never drink anything in a can now.
This is totally ludicrous... I ran into my jellyfish this past weekend in a glass of Arizona iced tea-- I stupidly thought it was glue or some synthetic product or tea related thing and drank around it, and proceeded to have severe epigastric pain, 2 bouts of projectile nausea followed by diarrhea and feeling like crap for 24 hours. Shouldn't this be a more widely known phenomenon? I only came across this site after googling mold and iced tea. I wish I had been warned!
It was very interesting for me to read this blog. Thanx for it. I like such themes and everything connected to this matter. I would like to read a bit more on that blog soon.
Just got the blob in the bottom of my Swiss Premium Natural Green Tea. I noticed today is the expiration date. I'm sick of getting sick from crappy cheap food products. I drank most of the bottle about an hour ago and so far only slight tummy rumbling. I'll update if it gets worse.
-Gomanson
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This happened to me a few years ago. I was just able to start drinking Honest Tea again after the bad association of the jellyfish incident.
Now I just found some in my Trader Joe's unsweetened iced mint green tea.....
Just had an episode of the infamous jellyfish mold... Arizona Ice Tea and Lemonade..that 1/2 mix.. drank it, seemed fine and bingo...that gross jellyfish thing.. Why does this happen! Arizona Ice Tea should fix this disgusting issue! Gross!
This is really crazy. I see this blog subject is only going to get bigger and bigger. I'm the latest victim of the jellyfish mold thingy. I got like a 24 pack of Arizona Green tea in the brown bottle and towards the end of the bottle I took a swag and felt this slimy ish in my mouth and spit it out. Did a search, and here I am. I'm going back to Sam's Club with the rest of the bottles for a refund and I'm taking 2,000 mgs of vitamin c and gotu kola to fight off whatever moldy substance I have in my system right now.....Geez. I LOVE tea, but from now on will only drink it if it is fresh from my pot.
Nice one, so funny :)
I was beyond grossed out today at lunch with my sandwich when swigging my daily Lipton unsweetened iced tea, slimy gunk went into my mouth. I spit it out and looked in the bottle - the entirety of the bottom was full of what looked like pond scum/fish eggs - I threw up and will be giving up my daily iced tea.
Same thing happened to me today in my Arizona Asia Plum Iced Tea. I drank the whole bottle, down to about an inch left when i felt something fuzzy in the last sip. I spit it back in the bottle and looked into the bottle and there was this gray round mass that looked like an eyeball. It was disgusting!!! I't been about 4 hours since i drank and i'm still alive for now. Hopefully i won't be in the bathroom all night.
Sorry to hear about that Melissa. You'll be alright. Just try to do something to get your mind off of it.
Oh wow... just... wow...
I LOVE sweet iced tea. I get it everywhere. AriZona Green Tea with ginseng and Honey is my favorite. I've noticed sour tastes after leaving it out too much, but I've yet to be plagued with a jellyfish mold, as far as I know.
I'll update if I do, though...
WTF?
Just found something in my Ito En 16.9 oz bottle. It's not the jellyfish ones most of you saw, but more like the algae tank one one commentor mentioned. I stopped after one sip, because it tasted bitter (and not the tea kind of bitter). Hope I don't get sick =(
Same jellyfish mold for me too, mine looks like little gelatinous balls. So far its been in 3 of the gallon bottles of southern home sweat tea.
finished a gruesome karate workout at the dojo a couple of nights ago and had to replenish lots of lost fluids..went to the nearby night store and bought 2 1.5 litre plastic bottles of cold lemon flavored nestea (israel)...practically downed 80 percent of it in one shot noticing a rather wooden-aged taste...but didn't make much of it being so darned thirsty..got home to finish it off when this slimy wormy slippery UFO thing entered my mouth..obviously I spat it out immediately on the floor .. thought it was a skinned rat's face at first glance..could of sworn it had hair on it...called the co. on the label..they dropped by my house today to pick it up and have it lab tested..suddenly noticed this red patch on my inner right thigh..i'm either paranoid and received a migeri kick during kumite or that mold has infected my blood stream and inevitably i'm turning into a lepricon..should i have myself placed into deep quarantine??
- ilan a.k.a. >> the phoenix <<
Holy cow. Just happened to me (actually my son). I just got done emailing Arizona Tea to find out what the deal was. It's gross. I googled jelly fish in my ice tea (I think) and came here.
Freaken gross. I don't think I want to ever buy bottled tea again.
Yuck
Hey James! Sorry to hear about that. You don't have to give up bottled ice tea completely. Just look at the bottom of the bottle before you buy it.
I'm joining the ever-growing list of jellyfish finders! Maybe we should start a club? :-/
Mine was in the last glass from a gallon of Milo's sweet tea. I was about to take the last drink, and felt this icky fuzzy thing against my lips! UGH! Round, fuzzy, grayish-white, and jellyfish-like. This happened a few days ago, and I don't recall that I became sick. It's simply disgusting to think that I drank the entire gallon before finding the "lifeform". Bleh.
I know how you feel Tara!
Ok so add me to the list of jellyfish finders. I just poured a glass of Arizona Ice Tea with Ginseng and Honey, took a big swig, set the glass down, and noticed wispy strands floating in it, one of which looked like a jellyfish in the middle. I thought I was seeing things and held the glass up to a light and HORRORS! I called the 800 number on the bottle, but of course it's 8:00 on a Friday night so NO ONE was in, had to leave a message. Ugh. This is gross. Gives me the eeby jeebs. I just hope I don't get sick!
Don't worry Lisa, you should be okay.
Well today I stopped at a liquor store and I bought my favorite ice tea. Snapple lemon tea. Getting ready to start my day and I drank 90 percent of it. Took my last sip and I got a slimy jelly fish mold looking thing in my mouth!!! Yuckkkk I spit it back into the bottle and jumped on google to see what came up and here I am... Soo nasty.. Any ideas what to do? I'm hold onto it for a couple days to see if anything comes of it for sure...
Today I was starting my day when I stopped at a liquor store and bought a snapple ice tea. Lemon tea.. Drank about 90percent of it and when I took my last sip I get a ball of slime. Guess it would be discribed as a jellyfish looking thing but to me it looks like a ball of snot!!! I spit it back into the glass jar and now I'm here so if anyone has got a idea about what I should do please lemme know.. I'm deffenitly holding onto the bottle for a couple days to see if anything happens to me! What is it really???????
I drank 3/4 of a gallon of Red Diamond sweet tea I picked up from a large gas station yesterday. Tasted kinda bland but not sour. Tonight I went to pour a glass and heard something plop into my glass. As I looked closer it was a round fuzzy jellyfish like things floating in my glass. I checked out the gallon and it was completely full of them. I feel pretty nauseous. Hopefully I don't get sick from this...I'm ruined from buying Red Diamond now and that was my favorite. Bummed.
Haha- ran across this blog since I had a similar experience with my Iced Tea.. looked like a jellyfish inside with tentacles floating around.. must have been growing for a while (luckily I didn't drink from it before I saw it!). Called Inko's and someone was on the phone in 3 rings and this guy helped me out and told me to toss it out and is mailing me coupons for free bottles of the tea... But yep.. gross, but as long as I can go to the store and get replacements for free and peer inside, no harm no fowl.
Damn you Arizona, damn you. Giant jug from hell! Oh, the agony. Agony and diarrhea.
I've had the same experience with Red Diamond Sweet tea in the gallon jug. I didn't notice a strange taste i just happened to look in my cup after taking a sip. I was really grossed out!!! Lets just say i won't be drinking anymore tea unless i make it myself...
Encounter of the third kind victim of the jellyfish here! It was my own day old tea though...ick!
So gross! My son just found a large spherical, jelly-like blob at the bottom of a Gold Peak Sweet Tea bottle. Yesterday, we both had iced tea from that bottle, but fortunately neither of us got sick.
Still, I immediately logged on to do some research, and this site has been informational.
Called the 800 number on the bottle and got Coca-Cola, then Minute Maid division, and then Gold Peak. They're sending us a coupon.
it. We both had poured tea from it.
Just sucked a jelly fish through my straw and swallowed it. FML, posted a picture of my jug on red diamonds website. My stomach is in knots!
ewwww it's in my arteasia! >___<
I just ran into this, too. Pouring the last of a gallon of Red Diamond Sweet Tea, two bulbous blobs were floating in my glass. They looked gelatinous, but then I thought somebody was playing a joke on me by putting grapes in my tea (we had both red and green on hand at the time). I grabbed a spoon to fish them out and realized they were squishy! Always willing to give the benefit of the doubt, I thought maybe the grapes lost their consistency by the tea breaking them down (?). Hard to pull out because they were so slippery, the color was neither red nor green. OK, of course the color would fade out if there were grapes in my tea. There was no skin on the grapes - of course it would deteriorate in the tea (?). But then I thought it was odd that I did not notice earlier. Wouldn't something as relatively heavy as a grape in liquid come out of the gallon jug earlier than at the very end? So I set them on a napkin and no more than 15 minutes later they were all dried up and shriveled. Definitely not grapes . . .
My husband just showed me a jellyfish in his jug of tea. So disgusting. Company is sending someone out to pick it up. Thank God for this website... Now we can sleep tonight knowing what he just shared a drink with.
"A non-pathenogenic mold." Oh, okay; yummy, eh?
I've had it turn up from time to time in the dregs of large bottles of different tea brands, if the bottle hasn't been refrigerated. (Not enough room in the fridge, so I just pour my tea over ice cubes.) I might have even seen it in a bottle that had been refrigerated.
I drink diet Lipton, Arizona, or Snapple, and I don't think any of those brands are immune to it.
Now, most (but not all) molds are fungus, and Mycoderma aceti is a fungus. That's the Latin name for "mother of vinegar," which Wikipedia says "is added to wine, cider, or other alcoholic liquids to produce vinegar." It's more common in unpasteurized vinegar but "can also form in store-bought vinegar if there is some non-fermented sugar and/or alcohol contained in the vinegar." That article says it can be just left in place and the vinegar can still be used, or it can filtered out with a coffee filter and discarded, or it can be used to start a new bottle of vinegar. "While not appetizing in appearance, mother of vinegar is completely harmless and the surrounding vinegar does not have to be discarded because of it." Well, if you can't use tea-jellyfish to start a new batch of tea, I think I'd dump it. I wouldn't take the chance of it turning into The Eggplant That Ate Chicago (1967, remember?), or Bill Cosby's "The Chicken Heart That Ate Up New York City" (Wonderfulness album, 1966), escaping from its container and possibly attacking unsuspecting co-workers, even if they were lawyers. I would like to feed it to some of the spammers who got into this thread, or maybe feed them to it, especially that "black market cigarettes" jackwagon.
I love it when I learn something new without breaking anything in the course of learning it.
Thanks for providing a place for us to find this info.
I just found the mysterious jellyfish in my tea tonight and I will call the company tomorrow. I think i am also going to call the local news and inform the of the tea issues. People need to become aware of what is in the tea.
Well I guess I am the latest JellyFish victim. I had found one once before a couple months ago but I didn't drink it. I thought maybe it was a fluke. This time it was 2am and I was half asleep. I poured a glass of Gold Peak Sweet Ice Tea. And got a mouth full of the jelly fish. My fiance and I both had a glass of tea with dinner. Thank goodness the jellyfish didnt happen then, we had an awesome salmon dinner and this would have just ruined it. From now on I am going to make my own tea.
Me too. Got a gallon of tea from a local BBQ place. I guess the good news is that it's mold and not some employees spit. It is GROSS.
Latest victim from the trader joes sweet tea jig. Big brown discs/jellys and black fuzzy rings. Absurd! Gross! This is nasty.
Appreciate the blog. Had no idea this was a multi year epidemic.
I have lately started drinking Bigelow Hot Green Tea, provided by my employers in the break room. I left a half of a mug of liquid in the cup on Friday. Tuesday Morning I pulled the tea bag out and it was slimy. I dumped out the contents and it was just a huge pile of slimy gel.
Bacteria? Sure. But to multiply and transform so rapidly? What is it about Green Tea that promotes this sort of rapid growth?
I am so thankful this blog is still around after all these years because I just had the same thing happen to me. I had just put my daughter to bed, so my kitchen was dark. I grabbed my gallon of Red Diamond Sweet Tea and quickly poured myself a glass. I took a sip or two and sat down in my bedroom. Watching the football game, I wasn't paying attention and took a big gulp. I immediately felt something fuzzy yet gelatinous in my mouth. I spit out back into the cup as well as tea all over my bed. I put it under the light and saw it looked like a brownish jellyfish-like substance. I ran back into the kitchen and looked in the gallon of tea. They were everywhere!! I ran back to my room and gargled with Listerine. That kills everything, right? Scared I was poisoned, I quickly Googled it and found this site. Honestly, though, an hour later, I feel like I have a cotton ball in my mouth now. Am I mentally causing this or should I actually be concerned this mold will affect me in the near/far future? :( Why aren't there warning labels about this on tea containers?!!! This should be enforced by the FDA very, very soon!
I purchased Arizona Ice tea "Green Tea w/Honey" 128 oz and found a mold ball the size of a baseball only after ingesting 3/4 of the product and becoming seriously ill. The Beverage company has yet to address the concerns over the product so the FDA has now open an investigation. Please hold our manufacturer to a higher standard and file a complaint with FDA of local Dept of agriculture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdNVogjgdKo
thank god i saw your post! i was just laying in bed and stupid me...i was so thirsty and decided to sip a little of the tea i had a couple days before, and i felt something extremely slimy on my tongue, so i freaked out and spit it on the counter, and saw exactly what is it that youtube video! it was a peace tea, snowberry can, which i always drink! just tea in general i suppose is where this type can grow! but good to see you didnt suffer from any sickness! thanks for the post :)
I had it happen with Diet Snapple Peach Tea. Called the company and they had me send my 2-six packs in for analysis. They just sent me a letter to call for results and it was a non pathogenic mold. They said not harmful. I noticed every bottle that had it came from the same batch # which is printed on each bottle and on the six pack carton. The bottles were from different six packs too but had the same batch #. I have bought more but I check every bottle now before drinking and watch for any batch number close to the one that had it and do not buy those just in case! Snapple did send me 2 coupons for free six packs but they did not remove them from the shelves at Meijers. I know that this type of thing can happen with any mass food production. I heard that some foods are allowed a certain amount of bugs in them! I bought Velveeta one time that had a fly in the middle of the block. Also bought a package of those peanut butter cheese crackers that had little brown worms in them. That really made me want to hurl!
@ Anonymous.
We probably wouldn't want to know the things we've unknowingly eaten over our lives! LOL!
I just purchased a bottle of Nestle peach ice tea from coles in Australia. There's this huge "jellyfish mold" inside. I thought it's a piece of napkin at the beginning and I tried to pick it up using a fork...
I too am victim of the jellyfish! Drinking some Gold Peak tea, get to the bottom, and find the "breast implant". YUCK!
YUCK, just sipped into my favorite bottle of Iced Argo tea to find my very own jellyfish. I thought it was a napkin at first... looks like it causes no harm though, so thats a relief >.<
Arizona iced tea brown bottle....yackkkk
Same thing happened to me with Diet Ginseng Arizona Tea. Huge amounts of jellyfish-like slime in the container and in my cup. So Gross. Arizona tea said it is harmless mold and that air must have gotten into the container on the assembly line.
Okay, I found this after I thought my Arizona Iced Tea half & half fermented. No jellyfish, but I'm just going to go pour the rest out. No sense in growing myself any!
ever heard of Kombucha? It's actually a healthy fungus that ferments the tea and lots of people brew this on purpose. It creates a carbonated, alcoholic, fermented tea. Its a sign that they don't put tons of preservatives in. This is a good thing.
Jellyfishies in my Lemon Flavoured Nestea! the only difference with my lovely life changing experience is that when I poured my glass I noticed it was thicker then usual... almost like syrup? I thought maybe it needed to be shaken! obviously that wasn't the case. ALSO! the box which it came it was really expanded as if it had a lot of air inside so weird right?! Anyways I only had a mouthfull before i knew something was wrong then I spilled the whole jug and found all the jellys. I took numerous photos and even kept one and froze it in a plastic bag in case i like.. died or something? Anyways! pretty crazy and i think it should definitely be shared so more people know. I put a huge mass awareness out to all my Facebook friends so hopefully it goes viral? yuckkkkk
I've found two cans of Steaz tea with this in it. Very gross :-/
They come in cans, so you can't see what's in them first without pouring the whole thing into a glass. I'll stick to tea in bottles from now on, so I can at least see what's in them.
Mine was also long, black and worm-like. It was floating thickly at the bottom of 365 (Whole Foods) bottle of black unsweetened tea. I am super grossed out and trying to contact the company to complain.
Today, I poured Arizona tea from plastic bottle into glass and first thing that popped out was a moldy disk, looked like an old lemon slice. I threw it all out and won't be buying any more az iced tea in dark brown plastic bottles (or any kind of container).
Hi every one, I am victim of my own tea jellyfish. Here is what happened - I had left the tee boiler full with a bag of tea for 2 weeks ... today I decided to make tea ... I opened the lid and voala - here I am searching the net for jelly things in the tea. So basically I suppose it is not how clean your system is but it is the tea it's self, and if there are no preservatives in it - the thing just grows in it :). However there is one thing I can not get - before leaving the tea boiler for these two weeks the tea in it was boiled to 100C for more than 3 minutes ... so how did that thing survived - or it just came from the air ?
Ive had the same experience with Pure Leaf tra! Instead of at the bottom, it was at the top and the first thing i drankðŸ˜ðŸ˜«
Jeeze, apparently this has been a problem for YEARS! That's crazy! I was Googling around to see how common this was after seeing complaints posted by several people working at stores selling this teas. I wonder if there's anything that can be done...
I did hear of one person who threw up from it, so it has hurt at least one person.
Ok, I'm glad I found this post and no one appears to have had any side affects from these jelly things in our ice tea. I bought the BIG gallon one..brand not important. I was pouring into a Glas when not 1 but 2 jelly like blobs just came out. It freaked me out, I don't have any family attorneys to call and bother but these comments sure helped understand I will not be growing any new parts or get super enhanced hearing. Great post! Thanks Google. . March 22nd 2015.
Ok, I'm glad I found this post and no one appears to have had any side affects from these jelly things in our ice tea. I bought the BIG gallon one..brand not important. I was pouring into a Glas when not 1 but 2 jelly like blobs just came out. It freaked me out, I don't have any family attorneys to call and bother but these comments sure helped understand I will not be growing any new parts or get super enhanced hearing. Great post! Thanks Google. . March 22nd 2015.
I didn't find any jellyfish, but lately I've been endulging in what was supposed to be my new best friend - bottled MojiTea's from Argo. Last Friday at work I had one, and within hours my stomach was in knots... the day progressed and with lots of water, I felt - not great, but better. I had bought two bottles though, and I had the second one yesterday. This morning I was awakened by such terrible cramps! I'm convinced it was the tea now. Guess I need a new friend...
Oh and as far as side effects go: I found this site because I googled "Argo Tea diarrhea"...
You do the math... ��
Used Bigalow green tea bags and poured it into a bulk container of DISTILLED water thinking it would be the ultimate unsweetened green tea. The next day, miniature breast implants came out of the spout. Very unnerving. Time is not a factor in this issue.
I am SOOOO grateful for the above segments! I googled for this problem and am very relieved that I should be ok after drinking a gulp from "jellyfish" tea. It's from diet raspberry Snapple ice tea.
Glad I'm not the only one. I just finished off a gallon of Red Diamond unsweet tea and almost ingested the "jellyfish". Geez, that was gross. I probably won't ever keep tea more than a week now.
Just happened to me as well. Tea tasted entirely fine the whole day, but once I was down to the last half-inch in a bottle of Pure Leaf something dense hit my lips and I just stopped sipping immediately. Saw a cloudy thing at the bottom, poured it out into a measuring cup and drained it until this slimy mass was left. Yuck. Went and brushed my teeth and gargled with mouthwash shortly thereafter. That's what I get for not being suspicious of a dented bottle!
Add another to the blog! :) Swiss Premium Sweetened Iced Tea with lemon, 8 days left until expiration. So glad I noticed something awry in my mouth and was able to spit the last sip out to find my jellyfish. Yuck.
My "mother of a story": Invited a neighbor in for a glass of Arizona's Arnold Palmer Zero Half & Half. She never had it before, but was up for giving it a try. I poured a couple of glasses, we had a nice conversation, and before she left I asked how she liked it. She thought it was great. Later that afternoon I was going to pour myself another glass and glub, glub, out slides a solid mass of mother. I looked all over the bottle for an expiration date (which I didn't find) and kept my fingers crossed for the rest of the day that neither of us would experience any negative side effects. Thankfully, none that I'm aware of.
Just bought 2 - 12 oz. bottles of Red Diamond Sweet Tea, got about 3\4 way through it and felt something weird in my mouth and spit it back in the bottle. I thought it tasted weird when I first started drinking it but thought it was because I hadn't had it in forever so I wasn't used to it. Thought I was going to puke, still do actually. I looked in the 2nd unopened bottle and there is defiantly a mass of something in it. Just hoping the mass in the one I drank wasn't as big. GROSS!!! I've been needing to give up my sweet tea addiction, this might have done the trick.
well, here's another victim of the jellyfish. I drank a glass of Arizona iced tea and went for another glass, I took a small sip of that and found some goopy brown hairlike things (jellyfish?) just swimming around. it's currently 2:22AM and I'm gonna sleep. If I don't comment in the morning I'm dead. :b
I'm more of a sweet tea person, and I've never found any gelly blobs. I work at a Super 8 In BFE (3rd shift) and sometimes our vending machines go unattended for a while. I recently discovered a hidden vending machine that had sweet tea and I was elated. I had one early in the day and it was great! I went up to grab another and took a few drinks and it tasted a bit..strong? I looked and there were streaks of black gooey stuff all over the inside of the bottle. It made me sick thinking I might have just drank some of it. I looked, and it actually hasn't passed it expiration date, it is still good for a few months. Any idea what this could be?
I thought I was the only one who experienced this phenomenon. I purchased a half gallon jug of Giant Eagle Lemon Iced Tea, and after drinking about 90 percent of it, I poured myself a glass and I heard a plop. I figured I was imagining things, so I drank my tea until I discovered something slimy in my glass! I assumed I had gotten a bad container, so I kept buying this brand because it was my favorite. It happened at least 3 more times. Needless to say, I can't even stomach the thought of drinking this tea again. I can't believe it's present in so many brands of tea. I feel ill. Now I'll be keeping an eye on my Dairymen's as well. Something needs to be done about this. It can't be healthy.
I am so glad I found this feedback. Thanks to everyone who contributed. This morning I found several of these mold jelly balls in my gallon container on Arizona Green Tea with ginseng and honey. I can't believe these posts have been around since 2008 and I have never heard about this. I drink various brands of green tea and have for many years. From this point forward I will only drink from brands with clear containers. Good stuff. It is amazing the knowledge sharing that goes on today over the Internet. Thanks again for all the sharing.
Just happened to me. Gold Peak unsweetened. Cloudy blob that was slimy when I pulled it out of the glass. Poured the rest down the drain wnd emailed coca cola.
Did not read all posts back from the beginning of this blog but drank Tradewinds tea with BB 06.28.16 tonight and discovered the dreaded jellyfish mold in my glass. Did some research and what I'm finding is once you open the bottle you have a short window of consumption time. Lesson learned!
I just found the same jelly like (quarter size) THING floating in my iced tea after consuming 30-40% of the contents. I feel slightly nauseated, not sure if it is my disgust of what I found or a true feeling of something that has made or may make me sick. I called the toll free number and they are shipping out a container for me to return the bottle and will "test the contents" and notify me of the findings. Do you think they will tell me if it is something they are liable for?
Thank you to everyone who posted their experiences. I was starting to panic! I drank part of the jellyfish blob from my glass of water. It felt slimy and I spit out what I could. In the glass I discovered jellyfish floating blobs. When I poured them out on my hand, they disintegrated. I went to look at the 5 gallon glass water container that we use to fill up our alkaline water from a local distributor and it had other floating jellyfish. We rinse and clean our bottles with vinegar regularly so I was very surprised. I have had several glasses of water from this water bottle today. I rinsed my mouth out with salt water and as I am writing this to you, I downed Kiefer and took a probiotic. It sounds like there might be mold growing in my 5 gallon glass water bottle. It is late and I am still in a bit of shock wondering if I need to go a step further and contact the supplier of the water to ensure that the water is safe for others. Thank you for your post. It is probably harmless mold... I tell myself as I think about going to sleep for the night. :) I can repost the results in case this happens to someone else. Take care! Suzanne
I just got the same thing in my Arizona green tea, but my bottle was full of clumps and long strings of slim!! They are sending cash and coupons but I'm also keeping bottle just in case I got sick.
Just found a blob of slimy stuff in my Pure Leaf Sweet ice tea bottle. I noticed when I took my first sip that it had like a "smokey" taste. I look in the bottle and low and behold, the Blob. I poured it into a cup and took pictures. If I kick the bucket maybe this can tell them why.. so bummed. This is my favorite team. 😑
I also just found a jellyfish glob in my arizona half and half, let's say I puked my guts out for about 5 minutes. I'm freaking out because I'm pregnant and I fear it will harm my unborn!! It was like the size of a dollar coin!
Something I haven't seen on this thread quite yet (unless I missed it) is the brand of tea that my jellyfish just came out of. I drink Peace Tea religiously, and decided on a whim to try the "Sno-berry" flavor for the first time. It's canned tea. I bought it yesterday, it was unopened in the mini fridge in my dorm room overnight, and as I poured it around twenty minutes ago, out came the blob. I'm grossed out, and will call the company, but tbh I'll just take to pouring the tea into a clear glass to make sure there's nothing in it. I would hate to give up my favorite drink over something small, especially if I won't get sick over it.
Oh...my...god. I want to throw up. I've seen them I think, before...but I just had a ton in my drink. Arizona lemon flavored iced. Barf. Grooooosss. I'm poor currently, too, so dumping half the jug made me sad.
I'm the latest victim of the jellyfish... Red Diamond brand. The bottle was out of date by one day, but I didn't notice until I felt something slimy in my mouth :( glad to know you guys are still kicking after drinking them. Maybe I won't die lol
This issue is still on going. Drank 3/4 of a can of Arizona Arnold palmer tea. Found a brown squishy sphere in it that I can only describe as closely as possible to small animal poop. I had noted earlier that it tasted a little flat, or void of flavor compared to normal, as I drink these often. But I didn't give it much thought at first. Wondering if it was mold as described by many others, or if possibly this is just the collection of added flavors that didn't remain in solution in the drink and collected together at the bottom. I did not shake the can before opening it.
I had the jellyfish in 3 different bottles of my Arizona Zero Green Tea. I see this blog has been going for years. Is there any resolution to this issue? Wondering what a I should do.
had pure leaf sweet tea tonight. tasted funny and some slimy thing got in my mouth. but I had already swallowed some .poured out rest of bottle alot more brown slime came out. I drink alot of tea first time it has ever happened.
Just had a Lipton mango iced tea "jelly". Very unnerving but apparently quite normal to run into. Still gonna keep it a few days just in case an alien erupts from my chest!
Latest victim of the non-pathogenic gellatenous mold. Drinking some Milo's tra when I just so happened to look down and see a "jellyfish" in my tea. I was almost done with my cup, and I immediately spat any tea in my mouth back out. I asked my dad what it was and he wasn't sure. So, hours later with this "jellyfish" on my mind, I research it before I going to sleep. I came across this blog, which is going strong for 11 years, and find all these relatable comments. Good thing I'm not alone and hopefully not going to die. I was about to pray for my life! Still am just in case. :)
I found mine in the 7select unsweetened black tea from puritea child brewed with organic tea leaves..... Yuk
WOW HERE I AM IN 2020 AND FOUND THIS EXACT SAME THING IN MY CAN OF ARIZONA HALF AND HALF!!! ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING. I VOMITTED UP MY WHOLE MEAL AFTER THAT. MY FACE BECAME ITCHY AND MY LIPS FELT AS IF THEY WERE GETTING PUFFY! I TOOK A BENADRYL. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!!!
Glad I found your blog. Latest "recipient" of this mold from an Arnold Palmer Zero (Diet?) jug. Oy.
Thanks for posting about it.
So it is now July 2020 and there are still jellyfish in my Red Diamond sweet tea. They usually are on the bottom so I'm careful just to drink around them. Lol
July 16th. It's in my Arizona green tea. I thought my son had spit something heinous in my cup, only to find this blah in the new unopened jug as well. The googling brought me here. You'd think they'd have figured out how to prevent this by now. I plan in filtering the blob out and experimenting. Also considering a doctor's visit as my tongue is a bit odd and I've been drinking this tea a lot recently. I will return with progress as I remember to.
Ha Ha!! A 13 year thread on this mysterious Iced Tea Mold. Mine was found in the 1 gallon jug of Arizona ginseng. I often make my own twisted tea and originally thought it was some sort of weird result of the vodka and iced tea. So I stopped making it by the gallon. But today I found the mold (both jellyfish-like and brown and fuzzy versions) in just a bottle of iced tea. It's a little gross, but I am manning up and using a coffee filter to filter it out. I really want the twisted tea for my golfing tomorrow! The vodka will kill any bad germs, right? Hey! Maybe the jellyfish will fend off Covid 19!!
I was just traumatized by the same type of mold. I was drinking a glass of iced tea last night and I felt the slime touch my lips. I immediately pulled my face away from the glass and let it fall. So disgusting. The cringe is the worst part because it really resembles mucus. Knowing that it was in fact mold is comforting. So many years later and your blog post keeps on giving.
Same type of jelly in the Arizona Watermelon. Quite disturbing, i drunk just a little of that, hope i will not die. i'll never buy an Arizona product after this.
this disgusting goop is in every bottle of tea that is open more than a couple of days. I buy 52 - 64 oz. of Gold Peake or Pure Leaf. you just can't leave it even in the fridge. the gooey lumps form
Can't believe people are still commenting here over 10 years later, but I found this blog after finding jelly in my Arizona.... Things don't really change do they?
I found the mold in a bottle of Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey. Lot N31720 best by date 12 Nov 2022.
Latest victim here. From milos tea. At first I thought it might be solidified sugar or cornsyrup but it was flavorless slimy goo.
Those post keeps on giving! My first swig the liquid felt a little thick and then low and behold on the bottom was full of these jellyfish molds
I am also a jellyfish finder. It happened to me with Pure Leaf Unsweet Tea. I realized it once I had already drank a bunch. I've drank their tea for years without any issues. So this really grossed me out. I reached out to Pure Leaf and they acted as if this was a new thing/unheard of. They asked me for all the info - barcode, date and batch #s, etc. They offered to send me some coupons but I don't really think I'll buy their stuff anymore. I think I'll start brewing my own tea at home. So far, I haven't had any weird side effects so I am hoping it is harmless.
I found a lot of the jellyfish type stuff yesterday in a gallon of Gold Peak sweet tea. I called Coca Cola and they said it was mold. I had symptoms of coughing, vomiting,wheezing and stuffy nose. Also coughing up big pieces of phlegm. I thought it was just allergies until I saw this hideous stuff in my cup of the tea. I'm still not feeling well.
Another hapless victim of the tea jellyfish! Thirteen years and these things are still growing strong! Red diamond furnished my jellies for the sweet tea I love so much and this is not the first time. How smart am I, returning for more punishment. Wont be satisfied until it kills me, I guess. Better the tea jellies than COVID!
I've been noticing that the taste of the Arizona sweet in can has been tasting diff.for the last few months. Today I opened a can and first drink had that weird taste but second drink reviled a clump of slime looking like a luggy. Idk if I should take it to the health department this hasn't been the first case that has been tasting like this. Any help would be appreciated.
Latest victim here, from my local store I bought two Arizona Sweet Teas and opened one the night before, took a sip and thought it tasted a bit odd. Like beer? I thought it was just my taste being off so I took sips every now and then but didn’t get very far, went to sleep and when I woke up the next morning forgot about it. Then I started cleaning my room and just decided to empty it out and the dreaded jellyfish came out! I consulted with my family about it and they said it could possibly be the tea just “settling” which is fair enough I guess. So tonight I opened my second can and thought “well what are the odds” took a sip, same taste, emptied it and same thing happened. Maybe my local store got a bad batch?? When I look at the cans they do not have expiration dates which is weird. This has not happened to me personally before. But my mom said one of her friends daughter’s had the same thing happen and from the same store. So I’m thinking it’s just the batch so I’ll be avoiding canned tea from there for a whileee.
Fresh brewed Arizona sweet tea put some in a cup with ice and my son took a drink. He came and showed me and it looks like little snot/mucus particles floating around in there. He said he always pulling jelly hair like particles out of his mouth. This has been going on since 2007.they haven't taken care of it! Starting a class action
enterobacter cloacae, caused from microscopic fecal material on the tea leaves or any other random exposure forms a scoby when combined with any and all random mold exposure. The scoby of this nature is perfectly harmless. But of course quite disgusting in consistency.
I just found this clear blob in my gold peak unsweetened black tea. I heard it flop out of the bottle as I was pouring it so I didn’t drink any of it. I just flushed it down the toilet.
Found this thread because my daughter opened a can of Arizona and instantly noticed what she called "I big long booger" in her drink. When I looked, it was just as described here; a jelly fish..and a dark end. From Arizona. Barf
I cant believe how old this thread is, cuz its 2022 and i found this jelly mold blob in a jug of arizona arnold palmer zero 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢
I found this jelly mold glob in jug of arizona arnold palmer zero tonight.... its 2022... 🤢🤢
My arnold palmer didnt taste right so I looked in the bottle and found that jellyfish mold you were talking about. Nasty man.
Dude me too I’m grossed out completely after I drink this Arizona ice tea lemonade with some floating shit In it 🤢
No brand is safe. Pure Leaf got me with the jellyfish mold, too!
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