Thanks for the sun tea Jasdip. I'll be happy to join you in a nice tall glass of sun tea. I have been busy this afternoon using the pressure washer cleaaning up my front porch. I still have some furniture to get clean, so a glass of sun tea would really hit the spot.

Sue

I would love a big glass of tea today. I went in yesterday for my remicaide i.v. treatment and took my methotrexate shot and I am feeling mighty icky right now. LOL.

Please be very careful with "sun" tea. It can harbor bacteria that can make you ill. The sun has little to do with the brewing of the tea anyway. it's just sitting there in a container of water. In the sun it may as well be a petri dish.

Below is the SNOPES link on the issue.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sun Tea Risk

I used to make Sun Tea all the time until I started hearing about the nasty stuff that can happen with it.

That is why I just microwave a cup of water and brew a couple bags in it - then pour into cold water.

You get the same tasting results without the "petri dish", LOL!

Wow, who knew?
So it can be done overnite in the frig, too....

Next time I'll make it as per some of the other ladies' and pour water that's come to a boil over the tea and let steep.

I had never heard that before, but it makes sense when you think about it.

I think I made sun tea once years ago. I just couldn't see the point in making it that way.

When I was reading this though it occurred to me that everything we do is in some way "not good for you" and it reminded me of the old Little Orphan Annie poem and that famous line "and the goblins will get you if you don't watch out!" :-(

Sue

I'll help you empty the jug there Jasdip, but hold the sugar and I'll take a lot of lemon if you have it despite the rumors over lemons.

Let's have a big plate of BACON to go with it, ok?

...Every morning, I wake up... and then I eat 5 strips of bacon and for lunch, I eat a bacon sandwich and for a midday snack, bacon, a whole d@mn plate! and I usually drink my dinner

This one bugs me a bit. The thing that bothers me most about the Snopes article is where they say the water harbors the nasties and needs to be heated to 195° for 3-5 min. Why does the water for iced tea need to be nearly boiled, but not for instant tea, Kool Aid, Tang, Crystal Light and holy mackeral, people DRINK tap water!!! Doesn't make sense to me.

Also, there's recipes saying brew a small amount, then add (that allegedly bacteria-laden) water to it. Again, doesn't make sense. If we need to near-boil it, why not everything. If the concern was the tea itself, which could make sense, but they're every bit as, if not more concerned about the water.

Refrigerator tea is easy enough but still doesn't quench my thirst for knowledge.

I'm just scratching my head. I need a beer and a bacon sandwich!

Oh brother, I'm with cynic on this one. Gee, I wonder how many have died from Sun Tea?

We have city water that is thoroughly tested and safe. Perhaps well water might be what they are referring to. I do wash my dishes and pitcher. But I guess if the tea should come from China.......

You are right. Are a glass of water, Koolade and Crystal Lite unsafe?

The bacteria in are probably fine until the water sits at a certain temperature in the sun. Anyone who has kept a pond,pool or even a fish tank knows how quickly the ph of water changes when exposed to light and warmth.

While it's true that probably no one has died from drinking sun tea I'm willing to bet many may have blamed the food rather than the tea they drank for the upset tummy. Worse yet people still refer to the stomach flu which is an illness that simply doesn't exist.

Sun tea is the only drink I know of that is left at a temperature in an unsealed,sometimes not so sterile container to bask at bacteria growing temperatures.

I make my "sun" tea on the kitchen counter and refrigerate after brewing. I don't know anyone who leaves it out in the sun for hours on end. It doesn't take that long to make. Personally I'm joining cynic for that beer and bacon sandwich. Common sense is a wonderful thing.

To say there's no such thing as "stomach flu" is totally wrong. It's a very real disease called gastroenteritis and is a very real inflammation that affects the stomach and small intestine. Granted, many people get an upset stomach and say they have something they don't but people who say it doesn't exist are just as wrong.

I'm not trying to argue the possibility that there can be problems compounded by the warming of the product. I just question what's been said and they hysteria surrounding it. I'm a person who likes things to make sense is all. Things need to add up, make sense, be logical. I do much better when I'm told a rationale for being expected to do something rather than hysteria or "because I said so". I'd just like a rational explanation on how iced tea will kill you but a pitcher of Kool Aid sitting on the counter all day will not. It doesn't make sense to me. The claim is the water is dangerous. I just want some explanation. And holy mackeral, we have to stop Ol' Joyful from toting that killer liquid if it's going to cut his life short.

The more I think about this, the more it bothers me. And I'm in a quandry because usually Snopes is a very good source of information. I'm almost wondering if this is a fake site! This is definitely NOT up to their normal high standards. Everyone knows that simply refrigerating doesn't kill bacteria anyway. Mold GROWS in refrigerators as most all of us have witnessed on the leftover tuna surprise in the back of the refrigerator. Freezing doesn't kill bacteria either so the "ice it down" theory doesn't hold water either.

I know my light bulb flickers a lot, but dang, is anyone out there able to give a rational explanation? Am I asking too much for 1+1 to add up to at least a single digit number??? Please answer quickly. I'm having the water disconnected and a biohazard team remove the teabags from my cupboards soon. I'll be drinking nothing but beer and the milk sitting on the counter for 6 hours (sun milk?) until this great mystery is solved.

Shoot.... I can't make any more bacon. I'm out of butter to fry it. Have to run to the store I guess.

Here is a link that might be useful: Take your pick

Every time I make a pot of tea and I have left over tea in the pot I just put it in the fridge and use it the next day as iced tea. Ice tea - simple - no recipe needed. LOL Just brew your tea as always and let it cool and pour over ice.

Anne

Gastroenteritis is a very real illness. The stomach is prone to both viral and bacterial illness.

But none are caused by the influenza virus (flu). The flu is a virus that attacks the respiratory tract. Although people may experience the side effect of nausea, and vomiting while sick with the flu those are no more the actual flu the headaches one one get while battling the bug. they are side effects. Influenza does not attack the intestinal tract.

Influena (flu) : respiratory tract, always viral

Gastroenteritis: inflammation of the gastric system, can be viral,bacterial and/or infectious.

I didn't see any hysteria behind the warning. I just saw it suggested that there are safer ways to brew tea than letting it sit in the sun. Nowhere did I hear or read that it would kill you. LOL

The reason the focus is on sun tea and not lemonade or koolaid is because nobody makes those by setting them out in the sun.

There are safer alternatives to handling most foods and it's a good idea to utilize them is all. If sun tea were magically tastier or better than brewed or sit in the fridge overnight (same thing) tea then it might be worth the risk. To each their own.

Cold foods cold and hot foods hot. Same with drinks, even bottled water should not be left out in the sun for hours. Lots of people leave them in their car. Probably OK before opening but opened and left in a hot car and the sunlight not a good idea.

Made sun tea, and I'm still kicking :o)

Gastroenteritis IS stomach flu. DUH! I suspect you're using the "turkey bacon" (or the "military intellgence", "postal worker", drive-on-parkway/park-on-a-driveway") argument that Gastroenteritis cannot technically be a "flu", to which I won't argue about. However, as pointed out, Gastroenteritis, aka "stomach flu" is very real and arguing semantics won't change that.

So back to the question, if the nasties are in the water, why won't Tang turn your tummy like tea? Inquiring minds want to know!

Viral and bacterial gastroenteritis are NOT cause by the influenza virus any more than the common cold.

Doesn't matter what lay people and even some of their exasperated doctors who are tired of explaining it call it.

Facts are facts.

You can call it what you want but it doesn't make it so.

Never said it didn't exist. But why not call something what it is instead of renaming it?

Sheesh. Some people claim to get the "flu" several times a year. That's pure ignorance and I don't see why someone would be so upset at someone for putting out factual information out there.

Don't people like to learn?

I'll still drink my sun tea ;o) I live under power lines, drink red wine, use butter, sugar, white flour and I'm still upright and breathing (I think). If I worried every day about every thing, I'd be dead from exhaustion.

As I hold out my pinky finger and drink my cup of tea - to make a good cup of tea whether hot or iced the tea should be brewed first with boiling water then cooled by whatever means you choose (adding ice or cold water). I prefer mine with ice and a slice of lemon.

In my opinion I don't consider those sweetened iced tea mixes to be tea just like I don't consider powdered Tang to be orange juice. I guess I am a snob that way but I grew up drinking tea in my English/Scottish home since I was a toddler and drank tea from my baby bottle. LOL

When I used to make it sweet for my Mom I would make a simple syrup to keep in the fridge and would add it to the cold tea instead of using granulated sugar which didn't dissolve very well in the cold tea.

I make iced coffee the same way. Left over coffee goes in the fridge and used with ice the next day.

Anne