It's mostly water and sugar, so it should be fine. Within reason, anyway. I wouldn't add gallons, but the bottom of the can/bottle should be fine. I don't have any steeping tea, so I'd add it to the compost.

Coke has Phosphoric Acid in it. I think I would try it in the tea just to see what happens.

Depending on the soda it can have large quantities of sugar (or a sugar substitute) as well as caffeine that in your body does bad things to you and as dentists have found sodas can erode the enamel of your teeth, so why someone would drink that stuff is beyond me. But it can be added to your compost pile, although the benefits of doing so are suspect.

I don't drink it but the wife does and buys it for the kids once in a while. Along w/ her energy drinks that some times go unfinished I put them in the compost pile. I wouldn't put it in my teas though.

I would add it to the tea for the reasons idaho_gardener puts forward.

I'd compost it.

By the way there is some evidence now that these soda drinks, and the "energy" drinks can be addictive. Docors are seeing many teen agers coming in with abnormal heart rythyms and there was at least one teen that went into cardiac arrest from consuming one brand of these "energy drinks. There is evidence of bone loss (osteoporosus) from over consumption of sodas as well as loss of tooth enamel.

I can definitely say caffiene is addictive, I used to drink a few gallons of diet dew or diet pepsi a day. My wife has tried giving it up and hasn't been able to yet due to caffiene headaches and no energy.

I know a guy that fell of the helicopter and was grounded from flight for heart troubles. He was drinking 4 monsters a day.

I also know people who drank 2 monsters right before a check-up to show up w/ high blood pressure on purpose to avoid physical readiness testing.

I would not try it in the tea unless you had some way of determining its affect on the microbes. If it a diet soda then it has chemical sweeteners in it. I would not put that in my tea - period. I don't know what effect, if an, the CO2 would have on the tea. I don't think it would have any appreciable impact on the compost - as long as the pile is not drenched in it. The tea on the other hand is more fragile and suseptible to minor changes in its environment. In a decent sized compost pile the volume of coke to the rest of the pile is really small. However, in a 5 gal bucket I think the volume ratio could be more of a factor.

In the end I think the old addage for a compost pile or tea holds true: if it did not come from the earth it should not go into the compost pile (or tea).

Just my way of thinking about it.

tom