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Health risks from room temperature tea set out all day?

Shel_B

By Shel_B
in Coffee & Tea

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted (edited)

I like to drink room-temperature tea. I'll make a batch in the morning and let it sit out all day in a covered mason jar; sometimes, it'll sit overnight. No sugar or flavorings are added to the tea. Are there any potential health risks to doing this, such as bacteria growing?

Edited by Shel_B (log)

 ... Shel


 

Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted

I don't know what Dr Google says, but I do this regularly—usually when I drink tea in the evening, keep it nearby when I go to sleep, then finish it in the morning—and have suffered no ill effects. (Well, except for that ear that's started to grow in the middle of my forehead.) Mine usually does include a little honey, though.

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gulfporter

gulfporter

Posted
Posted

I doubt there'd be a problem overnight.  

 

Then again, I'm probably not the best to answer.  

 

When were were young and poor, I'd make a gigantic pot of chili (ground beef was cheap in the early 70s) and because our first apartment had a 'dorm' size refrigerator, I'd just leave the pot on the stove and reheat every night for a week.  

 

 

 

 

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted

The people where I live know a thing or two about drinking tea.

 

Drinking ambient temperature tea is totally normal for them. In fact, I'd be willing to bet most tea is drunk this way. Bus, taxi drivers and other workers carry large flasks (not vacuum flasks) with them to sip on throughout the working day; students regularly such flasks of tea to schools and college lecture halls. My fellow faculty members did the same. Bankers will have the flasks on their desks, as do many office workers.

 

Of course, they don't use milk in their tea but I can't see it making much  difference if they did.

 

 

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
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Posted

In my search to find an answer to my question about tea safety, I came across this article. I'll post the link without comment other than to say that there are a coupe of points in the article that resonated for me and I will make a minor adjustment in the way I've been brewing the tea.

 

https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/06/did-you-know-iced-tea-safety/

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 ... Shel


 

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, Shel_B said:

In my search to find an answer to my question about tea safety, I came across this article. I'll post the link without comment other than to say that there are a coupe of points in the article that resonated for me and I will make a minor adjustment in the way I've been brewing the tea.

 

https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/06/did-you-know-iced-tea-safety/

 

Pay this no mind.  Its the product of a committee.  The kind of crap generated "with an abundance of caution" during covid.

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
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Posted (edited)
19 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Pay this no mind.  Its the product of a committee.  The kind of crap generated "with an abundance of caution" during covid.

 

 

This article was published long before Covid.  The dates relevant to the article are throughout the text.

 

I agree that it's cautionary. Therefore, I made a simple change to my brewing (and storage) technique to allow for the caution. The changes I made cost me no time, effort, money, or convenience, so what the heck? I'm conservative in my approach to many things anyway.

 

The more you know, the better your luck.

 

 

 

Edited by Shel_B
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 ... Shel


 

liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)

I found the article most amusing.

 

It says there is little chance of tea being contaminated then lists several 'theoretical', 'in theory' possibilities which it already admitted are unlikely.

 

The only real advice it offers is don't make your tea with cold water and don't make it in a dirty pot! Well, thanks. I'd never have thunk that for myself!

 

 

Edited by liuzhou
minor typo (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
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The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

Tropicalsenior

Tropicalsenior

Posted
Posted

The one thing that I don't understand is that it says you can only keep it 8 hours. I regularly make a gallon of tea to last me several days. I guess I'm dead.

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

The one thing that I don't understand is that it says you can only keep it 8 hours. I regularly make a gallon of tea to last me several days. I guess I'm dead.

@Shel_B It is the product of a committee.  Like all the crap we got during covid.  (even though it preceded covid)  Based on essentially nothing.

 

8 hours? They made it up.  It was a committee.  They could agree on it.   Ignore the non-advice from them.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)

When you arrive in most restaurants in China, from hole-in-the-wall joints to expensive banquet places, you are presented with a cup of ambient temp or lukewarm green tea. This not for you to drink. It's used to clean and rinse your rice bowl and chopsticks. Green tea has proven antiseptic and antibacterial properties!

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
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The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 Green tea has proven antiseptic and antibacterial properties!

 

 

 

Sure it does.  If you believe that I have some ivermectin for your covid.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Sure it does.  If you believe that I have some ivermectin for your covid.

 

There are countless studies that acknowledge the antibacterial and antiseptic effects of green tea.

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

Tropicalsenior

Tropicalsenior

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

There are countless studies that acknowledge the antibacterial and antiseptic effects of green tea.

It also has a definite laxative effect. I can vouch for that personally. My husband bought a large quantity of green tea and then decided that he didn't like it. Rather than waste it, I made a big picture of green tea. It was delicious and I drank it all myself. The next day I was confined  to one room of the house. The bathroom.

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

There are countless studies that acknowledge the antibacterial and antiseptic effects of green tea.

 

If you concentrate tap water enough you can probably find antiseptic activity.  Finding it reported on google doesn't make it real.

 

Do they use green tea for antisepsis in Chinese hospitals? 

 

(actually, they may well.  I read bad things about those traditional medicine places)

weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted
43 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

If you concentrate tap water enough you can probably find antiseptic activity.  Finding it reported on google doesn't make it real.

 

Do they use green tea for antisepsis in Chinese hospitals? 

 

(actually, they may well.  I read bad things about those traditional medicine places)

 

It just has to be boiling hot when you pour it onto your body parts that you want sterilized.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, gfweb said:

Finding it reported on google doesn't make it real.

 

Do they use green tea for antisepsis in Chinese hospitals? 

 

Nor does it make it unreal!

 

No, But only because there are cheaper and more powerful alternatives!

 

And this has nothing to do with TCM  (traditional Chinese medicine), of which I have often been highly critical on these forums. The studies referred to were not done in China.

 

Antibacterial activity of green tea leaves extracts against specific bacterial strains - ScienceDirect

 

Could green tea hold the key to reducing antibiotic resistance? | German Center for Infection Research

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

@liuzhou You can find anything on google. Like ivermectin or chlorox for covid.  Or Nutrafol for hair loss.

 

Its still BS and should be suppressed rather than cited.

JeanneCake

JeanneCake

Posted
Posted (edited)

Food Safety News is a periodical published primarily for the food industry; and has a "bias" (if you will) toward making sure that the readers (people in the industry) are aware of potentially hazardous practices that could impact the incidence of food-borne illness.

 

The article specifically calls out iced tea.  In a great many facilities, iced tea is served from a large (gallon+ size container), especially self-serve at a buffet style restaurant.  The 8 hour limit is likely referenced because you're supposed to make sure things (work prep surfaces, etc) are cleaned and sanitized AT LEAST ONCE every 8 hours.  One of the health inspectors at a facility I rented from routinely checked the cleaning schedule of the ice machines because people are notorious for forgetting to clean them and that's what she was going to ding the facility for.  She didn't count on the caterers being exemplary practitioners of food safety :) and she even commented on it!

 

Anyway, as mentioned, as long as you're brewing the tea properly (with boiling water) and using a clean vessel to boil the water in and a clean storage vessel  (to store the brewed tea in) you should be fine.

Edited by JeanneCake
I don't know what button I pressed but it posted before I was finished! (log)
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