First sun tea of the year!
32 grams of Lucky Eight jasmine tea in my 64oz pitcher. I put it out on the balcony at noon, and I’ll bring it in in time for dinner.
What’s your favorite summer tea and how do you make it?
I’m crazy… I use blueberry rooibos as my summer go to tea.
Generally I just take two handfuls of the stuff to steep since it’s rather cheap (I literally mean handfuls, by the way)
Sorry. I have the understanding that sun tea is a good way to culture bacteria. I cold brew tea in the fridge.
I cold brew also. I have found little difference in flavor between cold brew and sun brew, and I don’t want to risk the bacteria!
I also cold brew a daily 25 oz. in my fridge.
Sun tea, while romantic in theory, does present a risk for bacteria growth because of the fluctuating temperatures that generally fall within the accepted “danger zone” as far as food safety standards go. This is especially risky with herbal teas/tea with pieces of fruit.
ditto. Drives my MIL crazy that I won’t drink her sun tea. She’s made and drank sun tea for longer I’ve been around, but since I’ve never had it I rather not test if my stomach can handle that bacteria.
I grew up drinking sun tea and still love it – I’ve never run into a problem with it being germy, but then I’m scrupulous about clean hands, a clean container and straight tea only. I like to cold brew more delicate teas – I think the flavor of jade oolongs and greens comes out better with the cold brew.
The risk of illness from cold tea is extremely low – per the CDC there has only been one reported incident of illness connected with iced tea consumption. The most recent publication on tea safety that I could find (‘Bacterial contamination of iced tea.’, Virginia Epidemiology Bulletin February 1996. Print.) describes the tranmission of disease causing organisms in tea as “theoretically possible”, and specifically says that sun tea “… may be of higher theoretical risk..”
Speaking from a purely personal point of view, I think the risk is minimal to non-existant for healthy folks – but would consider it prudent for the very young, very elderly, and immunocompromised to avoid sun tea.
The risk of illness with sun tea is real. No restaurant would serve it here in the US and risk their license. I cold brew with about 5 teaspoons of tea to 2 quarts of water and it works out great.
I also do a blueberry rooibos along with a black tea breakfast blend, an orange tisane and a grapefruit/strawberry green tea among others.
Login or sign up to leave a comment.