Mathochist: Point taken. I thought my point deserved consideration as well.
stuyguy: The person capable of setting his house on fire in the course of making sun tea is precisely the kind of person who falls into a mudpot at Yellowstone: Misfortune that severe either proves a deep, abiding Stupid or the direct intervention of a devious and malicious Great Force.
If you don’t understand the Southern mania for ‘sweet tea’, you’ll never know the simple joy of sucking chilled honey through a straw. (Tea leaves were used in that concoction. They gave their all to provide color.)
Sun tea also has the miniscule advantage of requiring no fossil fuel and as such is considered more environmentally friendly. Of course, the amount of energy expended in boiling one teapot of water is probably so small as to amount to nothing.
No, what intrigues me is I can find references in blogs and other online media but no reference at the CDC, or any other primary source, to the milk contaminant Alcaligenes viscolactis being a problem in Sun Tea. It would just be nice to see Snopes hoist by their own petard.
You can make “sun tea” in the fridge, I do it all the time. It really only takes a couple of hours for the tea to brew. I do it because it seems like an unecessary waste of energy to boil and then cool something. Caveat: I try to drink it within a couple of days at the very most.
If anyone is really that worried about bacterial dangers of sun tea you better start rethinking kool-aid, frozen concentrate, or any other beverage or food that you prepare with tap water and do not cook or boil.
Indeed, I thought the whole energy thing was an argument for making the sun tea. I don’t want to boil a gallon of water for tea steeping on a hot day. And boiling it before putting it into the sun to brew? Seems a little duplicative. If I were going to boil water for sun tea, I’d blow off the “sun” part and just used the boiled water to brew it.
"Using the natural rays of the sun to make tea is fun and popular in the summer. However, using such a method to make tea is highly discouraged. Sun tea is the perfect medium for bacteria to grow. If the sun tea has a thick or syrupy appearance, it may be due to the presence of a ropy bacteria called Alcaligenes viscolactis. Ropy bacteria are commonly found in soil and water.
Several years ago in Ohio and Washington, several people became ill after drinking tainted ice tea. In Washington it was determined that the tea had been made with tap water only heated to 130 degrees Fahrenheit and left to sit at room temperature for more than 24 hours. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Tea Association recommend the following when making tea.
* Brew tea bags at 195 degrees F for three to five minutes.
* Brew only enough tea that can be consumed within a few hours... SNIP ...
Oh, it did. I didn’t mean to slight you, but also didn’t want to go through an exhaustive list of everyone’s points in my post.
As I understand it, your point is that whatever the probabilities are, it’s entirely possible to dodge every single bullet. This is true, but almost vacuous. What I want to know now is what the real danger level is associated with the specific preparation method I described.
There is no definitive kill step, but there is also no chance for rapid bacterial multiplication. Bacteria like to grow between 40 and 140F so most of them don’t grow at all in the fridge and those that do do so verrrrryyyyy sllloooooowwllllyyyy.
The thing to remember about most foodborne illnesses is that they aren’t reported. You have to be really ill to seek medical attention. Otherwise, you stay home and frequent the ceramic altar. Saying it can kill you is probably a bit exaggerated, but all foodborne illnesses have that potential to kill, especially if you are young, old, pregnant, or immunocompromised. If your grandmother is ailing away in her sickbed, and is begging you for suntea, you should reconsider. Make it in the fridge…it’ll be OK and grandma won’t know the difference.
