A TikToker says that their partner unknowingly “poisoned” them with elderflower tea that was prepared improperly.
Text overlay on the video posted by @frownyfreckles on April 27 reads, “Me getting a terrible migraine and falling asleep every time I drink the tea my gf made.”
The text continues that “They were unknowingly poisoning me with cyanide.”
In the caption, @frownyfreckles explains that improper preparation of elderflowers can lead to cyanide poisoning due to certain parts of the plant producing the chemical naturally. It reads, “I find it very romantic… it was elderflower tea btw, and they didn’t know u have to boil the flowers first.”
@frownyfreckles i find it very romantic… it was elderflower tea btw and they didnt know u have to boil the flowers first
♬ original sound – frownyfreckles
The video has over 697,000 views, with commenters joking about the potentially deadly mistake.
“This is very funny since you didn’t die but also please, why’d you keep drinking it?” one user asked.
“Actually, they were just making you unkillable but very slowly,” another said.
However, several herbalists commented that the flowers themselves shouldn’t have enough cyanide to be dangerous.
“Herbalist here! The flowers themselves shouldn’t contain cyanide-inducing glycosides, but the buds and stems do,” one user explained.
“How much were you drinking? The flowers only contain trace amounts and the cyanide compound is volatile so in a hot tea there shouldn’t be any left,” another said.
“The cyanide is in the stems, so just the flowers should be safe for ingestion for future tea dates!” a third added.
In several comments, @frownyfreckles explained that the tea was not store-bought and the couple had handpicked elderflowers to steep the tea themselves.
Despite the mishap, @frownyfreckles is in good spirits about the accident and doesn’t blame their partner.
“They felt really bad but I was just like, ‘this is like a really cool, tragic lesbian love story ending,” they commented. “It’s the most romantic thing that’s ever happened to me.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @frownyfreckles via TikTok comment.
