With all the packing & moving going on, I haven't had a chance to make a pitcher of tea in a couple weeks.

I've been using up what's left of my Lipton bags.

1/2 gal water, bring to boil
Turn off heat, put in 4 tea bags
Steep 15 min, dunk every 5
Pour over 1/2 gal of ice & stir to even the mix

Will look into the Luzianne when the Lipton stock runs out.

The only cold tea I drink is what’s been sitting in the cup for a while and cooled to room temperature, but I must ask how much bacteria is there in tap (or other) water and dried tea bags when making sun tea? As popular as the stuff is, I would think that if it were a genuine danger, we’d be hear of people dropping over from drinking it all the time—no?

And if we don’t do that once in a while, how do we keep our immune systems in robust health?

quote:

And if we don’t do that once in a while, how do we keep our immune systems in robust health?

They probably have a vaccine for that.....

The Jazzfest rosemint tea is one of my favorites

Sweetened with honey. I cut the teabag quantity back some

https://www.nola.com/entertain...a17cdfecb7a.amp.html

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Before the dreaded menace of kidney stones, I made sweet tea in the coffee pot.

Put one cup of sugar in the pot,
Put two big Lipton tea bags in the filter,
Fill the machine to the top line and press go.
When it’s done you can pour it over ice immediately and it’s prefect

I was also told to stop drinking tea,,, due to stones,

but fukkit, I like tea,


when not drinking a nice English tea, hot to room temp, no milk we make iced tea like my grandmother did

Luzianne big bags, usually 2 or 3, in a quart of water brought a simmer on the stove,
add whatever amount of sugar you like, (even as a southerner, I prefer my tea unsweetened,)

then pour into a jug , fill to top with water and put in the fridge,

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
The only cold tea I drink is what’s been sitting in the cup for a while and cooled to room temperature, but I must ask how much bacteria is there in tap (or other) water and dried tea bags when making sun tea? As popular as the stuff is, I would think that if it were a genuine danger, we’d be hear of people dropping over from drinking it all the time—no?

And if we don’t do that once in a while, how do we keep our immune systems in robust health?

I'm glad you asked. Here's everything you wanted to know.

https://foodhero.com/blogs/how-to-make-sun-tea

But despite the joy of making something so simple, sun tea has had its day in science labs and alas, sun tea can pose a health risk.

It seems that tea brewed in the sun creates a breeding ground for bacteria and so, if we go with science shows us, sun tea is not such a good idea. Here’s what was found: The heat of the sun replaces the heating element of water boiled in the kettle but under any sun condition, the tea will only reach in the range of 102° to 130° and not the 170° to 200° normally needed to steep tea in. If sun tea gets a thick or syrupy appearance, it’s because of the presence of Alcaligenes viscolactis, a stringy, rope-like bacterium. These bacteria are commonly in soil and water and should not be digested.

Therein lies our sweet dilemma with whether to sun-brew or not; it only gets hot enough to release some of the solids out of dried leaves and blossoms (which explains our fancy for it) but not hot enough to be considered a safe brewing method. Even though the risk of getting sick from it is low, there is still a possibility of rope-like bacteria breeding in the tea. This is enough of a reason for many people to consider other methods for brewing their tea. What a lot of people are doing now is opting to limit their tea-brewing techniques to the indoors, choosing to cold-brew it in the refrigerator instead. Delicious.

I tried my first batch of Luzianne using their cold brew bags. Tastes pretty good albeit a bit mild. Smoother and less bitter than PG Tips using the same brew method. Overall, decent tea but if I buy Luzianne again, I’ll buy the regular tea and not the cold brew one.

Although decent, I’ll not be buying Luzianne again unless I can confirm Asia excludes prc.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I'm glad you asked. Here's everything you wanted to know.

Thanks although it isn’t something I do.

My routine is to brew up a quart of lapsang souchong, oolong, or gunpowder (what else?) every morning the traditional way (except that the boiling water isn’t as hot as is recommended for the darker varieties).