Ice Tea, Allergies and Me

I like ice tea, and have been making "sun tea" for years. Basically, you put the tea bags in water and set the pitcher outside. The sun brews the tea.

Well, for the second time now I've had an allergy flare-up - a flare-up that coincides with me finding "stuff" floating in my ice tea. Google being my friend, I find that sun tea can harbor dangerous bacteria. According to the link, sun tea never gets above 130 degrees, and there's a bacteria in tap water called alcaligenes viscolactis. To kill said bacteria, you need to get the water above 195 degrees.

Now, caffeine inhibits the growth of said bacteria, and like any natural thing, the bacteria take time to grow. So, if you drink your sun tea within a day or so of making it, you'll be fine. I was not - sometimes letting it sit for a week or more.

Looks like it's back to boiling water tea for me.