Ive been known to bring mine in after just one hour on a really hot day. To do this many people fill large containers with water and place a dozen or so tea bags or loose tea in them.
Depending on the sun and the tea leaves it will take about 1-5 hours to make.
How long should sun tea be left outside. Dont leave outside for longer than 4 hours and should be refrigerated or poured over ice as soon as its done to bring it to a cool temperature quickly. Use a glass container so the glass can be used to heat the water to a higher temperature than it would with a plastic container. Tea is brewed by leaving a clear container with tea in it out is the sun for a few hours.
However using such a method to make tea is highly discouraged. Sun tea is the perfect medium for bacteria to grow. The essential problem is that sun tea will not get hotter than 130 degrees Fahrenheit which is not hot enough to kill bacteria in the water.
The general idea of sun tea is to brew a large batch of iced tea without turning on the stove. To do this many people fill large containers with water and place a dozen or so tea bags or loose tea in them. The containers are then placed in the sun for anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on the temperature outside.
Though no shorter than 3 hours or longer than 5 hours are recommended youll know your sun tea is ready for you by color and taste. Its not necessarily left out overnight as long as for a long time. The primary problem of leaving tea out overnight is that bacterial can start to grow.
Besides most of the Vitamin will get lost and the tea polyphenol will get oxidized. So if you see mold or if the tea becomes murky dont drink it. Sun tea can be dangerous to consume depending on how long you leave it out.
The tea will not go bad within a few hours but if left overnight outside or at room temperature the risk is much higher. Since the tea is never heated I would not drink day-old sun tea. Even ice tea does expire after two or three days.
I recommend that you should. How dark do you like your tea. A general timeframe is between 2-3 hours of sunshine.
Ive been known to bring mine in after just one hour on a really hot day. Once the sun tea is the color and flavor youre going for sweeten the tea if you so desire. Just make sure its in a place where the sun hits it directly and its not obscured by shadows.
Do not let the tea sit in the sun for over 4 hours. Leaving it out for a longer period of time encourages bacteria to grow. Avoid placing the container directly on the ground.
The idea behind a sun tea is making tea purely with the help of sun. Because the sun is heating surfaces stronger than the air the temperature will be high enough to make tea within 1-5 hours. The best of all it will never be too hot to ruin it or cause bitterness.
Depending on the sun and the tea leaves it will take about 1-5 hours to make. Iced tea should be stored for no longer than 8 hours. The tea brewer storage dispenser and faucet should be cleaned daily.
According to the CDC. Do not leave tea to brew in the sunlight for more than three to four hours. Do not prepare more tea than you plan to use that day.
Refrigerate the drink as soon as it is ready and keep it. Sun tea a beverage that can capture the sunny spirit of summer all year round. If you need something special to ward off your winter blues learn how to make sun tea in the winter to bring the brightness of July back into your January life.
Sun Tea Any Time. Theres a long and lovely tradition of making sun tea. Summer is a great time to eat outside but leaving food out for too long can be grossand downright dangerous.
Heres how to tell what is and isnt safe to eat. You just place a few tea bags in a big jar of water and let them slowly steep in the hot sun. And technically yes this method is not strictly safe.
Our reading shows that the 130F or so that the water reaches is an ideal temperature for harboring and growing the bacteria commonly found in tap water. Without a boiling session to kill off. But sunlight through glass can actually sterilize water although I dont think it penetrates very far - an inch or two but come on.
Dont drag the tea bags though the dirty kitchen sink and you should be fine. Tea will get nasty tasting long before it gets toxic. It should be noted that when the CDC released its initial guidelines to answer the question of how long does tea last in the fridge it was 1996 and the cold brewing craze was still over a decade off.
Everyone was making sun tea or brewing tea hot and icing it down.