Tepache is a Mexican fermented drink made from the parts of a pineapple most people throw away – the peel and core – with piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar), cinnamon and cloves. After two or three days at room temperature it turns lightly fizzy, sweet-sour and spiced, with a little alcohol. It’s sold by street vendors across Mexico, often from large clay pots or barrels, and it’s one of the easiest fermented drinks to make at home.
What Tepache Is
Tepache is a spontaneous fermentation: no starter is added. The yeasts and bacteria come from the pineapple and the kitchen. The name is usually traced to a Nahuatl word for a maize drink, and older versions were made from corn; today pineapple tepache is by far the most common.
In Mexico it’s drunk cold over ice, often from a bag with a straw, and sometimes mixed half-and-half with light beer. Bottled tepache is now also sold commercially.
What Happens During Fermentation
In a study of traditional tepache followed for 72 hours, fermentation happened in two stages. First, lactic acid bacteria and yeasts produced lactic acid and alcohol; later, acetic acid bacteria increased. By 72 hours the drink was dominated by Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Acetobacter and Lactococcus bacteria, with yeasts including Saccharomyces, Zygosaccharomyces and Candida. Sugar fell from about 123 to 85 g/L, lactic acid rose to about 8.8 g/L, and alcohol reached about 3.4 g/L – roughly 0.4% by volume (Gutiérrez-Sarmiento et al., 2022).
That means tepache stays quite sweet and only mildly alcoholic at the usual 2–3 days; longer fermentation makes it stronger and, eventually, vinegary as Acetobacter turns alcohol into acetic acid. That is how vinegar is made on purpose; see how to make vinegar at home. Because it keeps gaining alcohol, don’t treat longer-fermented or bottled tepache as a soft drink for children or during pregnancy.
Because nothing controls which microbes grow, homemade tepache varies. One small analysis of homemade tepache found a community dominated by Bacillus and non-Saccharomyces yeasts, and detected antibiotic-resistance genes (Allshouse et al., 2025). Clean equipment, a whole fresh pineapple and a short fermentation help keep it on track.
Tips for Good Tepache
- Use a whole fresh pineapple. Rinse it under cold water, but don’t scrub hard or use pre-cut or canned pineapple – the microbes on the peel start the fermentation.
- Keep the pieces under the liquid. Pieces floating above the surface are where mold starts. Weigh them down with a small plate.
- Keep it warm, but not hot. About 72–82°F (22–28°C) is ideal. Much cooler and it’s slow; hotter and it turns vinegary quickly.
- Taste from 24 hours. Strain it when you like the balance of sweet and sour, usually after 2–3 days.
- Skim foam, not mold. White foam in the first day or two is normal. Fuzzy growth isn’t.
Variations
- Tepache with beer: half tepache, half light lager over ice.
- Tamarind: add a few peeled tamarind pods with the pineapple.
- Hibiscus and chile: add a handful of dried hibiscus flowers (flor de jamaica) and a dried chile de árbol for the last 12 hours.
- Extra fizz: bottle the strained tepache in bottles made for carbonated drinks, leave 12–24 hours, then refrigerate. Open carefully over the sink.
Troubleshooting
- Nothing happening after 36 hours: it’s too cold, the water was heavily chlorinated or the pineapple was underripe. Move it somewhere warmer, or add a pinch of yeast.
- Vinegary: it fermented too long or too warm. Use it as a pineapple vinegar in dressings and start the next batch with a shorter time.
- Slimy or ropy: some bacteria make it thick. If it also smells off, throw it away.
- Mold: throw out the whole batch if you see fuzzy mold of any color, or if it smells rotten rather than sour and fruity.
More drinks like this: fermented drinks like kombucha, Mexico’s tejuino and pulque, and water kefir. Finland’s sima is a fizzy lemon drink made the same quick way, with a pinch of yeast. Across Latin America, fresh sugarcane juice left to ferment briefly becomes guarapo.