If you’re feeling parched on the job, it’s easy to reach for a beverage to quench your thirst. But what if you inadvertently bought one with alcohol in it? This error caused a Whole Foods employee to be sent home, believing she had drunk a non-alcoholic Kombucha.
What is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a fermented, carbonated beverage made from tea, sugar, bacteria, and yeast, typically using either black or green tea as its base. Rich in healthy bacteria and Vitamin B, these sweet teas rose to popularity because of their variety of flavors and perceived gut health benefits.
Whole Foods worker Sky (@skyystayhighh) reenacts the moment her manager forced her to clock out. “Getting sent home because apparently the Kombucha I drank was an alcoholic beverage,” she writes in the overhead text. As the “Go Clock In” audio plays, the employee glances to the side and removes the apron by pulling the neckstrap from her head. Then, she completely takes off the apron and holds it with an annoyed expression on her face.
In the content creator’s mind, she thought management overreacted. “They called me a lyft cause i was ‘under the influence,’” she wrote in the caption, followed by three crying emojis and a ‘#whatthehelly’ hashtag.
Viewers have also had this experience
Many have unknowingly drunk from alcoholic Kombuchas as well.
“This happened to me!! my manager actually got me SPIKED kombucha instead of my regular cause it looked the same,” one viewer shared. “But she also did not send me home because it was one bevvy that took me like 3 hours to finish.”
“I was drinking them while I was pregnant because it helped with my nausea, which was severe. I told my doctor and she said, ‘ummmmm don’t do that,’” another recalled.
A third commented, “I found that out the hard way, yeah, it’s not your fault.”
Moreover, some argued that all Kombuchas contain alcohol because of fermentation.
“Alcohol is caused from fermentation and you can’t make kombucha with out fermentation,” one commenter remarked. “Its literally fermented tea but its still not the same type of alcohol.”
“Technically they do have a percentage but of like .05 or something like that not even legal enough to be considered a [drink] lol,” another stated.
Sky replied in the comments section, revealing which one she had consumed. “Correct the one i had was a hard kombucha unfortunately i was unaware it was actually 0.5%,” she wrote.
@skyystayhighh They called me a lyft cause i was “under the influence” ??? #whatthehelly ♬ Go clock in – 1of1?
Do all Kombuchas have alcohol?
Because of the fermentation process, all Kombucha contains small amounts of alcohol, but some are non-alcoholic. Ceria Brewing Company states that non-alcoholic drinks have less than 0.05% alcohol, whereas alcohol-free, as implied by the name, has none. Hard Kombuchas have a longer brewing period, which strengthens the alcohol. In addition, traces are in sourdough bread, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, and vanilla extract.
The Mary Sue reached out to Sky via TikTok comment and direct message, as well as Whole Foods via press email.
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