Is sun tea a bacterial playground?

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Jun 12th 2006 @ 6:02PM

According to some recently updated info on Snopes.com, the answer may be yes. Putting a jar of water and tea bags in the sun will get the water hot, up to about 130° F, but not nearly hot enough to kill any bacteria in the water or the tea itself (that happens at around 195° F). Apparently the caffeine in black tea may help to stave off bacteria for a little while, but it isn't a guarantee. Some suggestions for you sun tea brewing daredevils include: start with a scrubbed, bleached vessel for brewing; don't leave the tea in the sun for more than four hours; don't make more than you can use in a day; refrigerate it immediately; and toss it if it gets "thick or syrupy." Also, don't use any excessively cheery jars that would make getting sick all the more ironic.

Filed Under: Science, Health & Medical, Drink Recipes, Methods
Tags: bacteria, boiling, brew, brewing, health, healthy, is sun tea safe, risk, safe, sun tea, tea

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-13-2006 @4:45AM Razib Ahmed said... " Putting a jar of water and tea bags in the sun will get the water hot, up to about 130° F, but not nearly hot enough to kill any bacteria in the water or the tea itself (that happens at around 195° F)."
I live in South Asia and here we are crazy for our cup of tea. However, I have never seen anyone putting the jar of water and tea bags in the sun to get the tea hot.

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6-13-2006 @7:02AM nika7k said... Razib: you have never been to the southeastern part of the US for any amount of time then! :-) its very common practice. I even remember people doing it in the midwest.
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6-13-2006 @8:20AM twobrain said... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha
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6-13-2006 @10:12AM B said... I've been drinking brewed iced tea for years, and it ain't killed me yet. Although I don't brew it in the sun, I just let it steep on a counter.
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6-13-2006 @11:16AM Baron said... We made (and still make it for all I know, though I don't live at home any more) sun tea for at least 20 years. I can promise there are days when we left it outside for 8 hours and no-one ever got sick. People are just so germaphobic these days. They are afraid of everything. Everything is going to get you sick or it's bad for you or this or that. Boo Hoo! Be smart, wash what you use, don't introduce nasty elements into you food, etc. Get over it.
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6-14-2006 @12:26AM Candice said... I've never gotten sick from sun tea, but in light of this information I wouldn't be serving it to anyone who's very young, very old or who has an immuno-deficiency disease, which is my default course for anything that gets declared "iffy."

I'm a healthy adult and probabyl won't get sick and if I do, I'll probably be fine in a week anyway.
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8-10-2006 @10:34AM doug said... What kind of water are you using. If it is city tap water in the US there is usually enough chlorine in it to kill the living squigglys. Hey Reverse osmosis or distilled water is the only safe way to drink water anyway and even that is not 100%. if you have well water the U.V. process replaces the chlorine and in Europe etc. they use ozone. Bleached vessels? Chlorine mixed with organic compounds, (Human bodies) form THMs witch are cancer causing.
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