Safe Iced Tea Brewing and Handling Guidelines

Brewed tea is capable of supporting bacterial growth. Tea leaves can become contaminated with bacteria during the growing, harvesting and drying process. Once prepared, brewed tea has often been left at room temperature for hours before ice is added and served.

Tea should be brewed with water hot enough to kill microorganisms. Making "sun tea" by steeping tea bags in containers of water warmed by the sun is higher risk of bacterail growth because the tea is brewed at low temperatures.

Be sure tea servers are cleaned regularly. Do not store brewed tea at room temperature for more than 8 hours. Avoid consuming cloudy tea with an off odor.

Washington State University suggest the following recommendations regarding proper tea preparation.

Guidelines for safe tea brewing and handling:

1. Brew tea with boiling or very hot water (175 degrees F or hotter).
2. After tea is brewed, it is best to refrigerate until served.
3. In commercial establishments, wash, rinse, and sanitize the tea urn or service container daily, including the spigot. At home be sure to wash the tea container between uses.

The Tea Association of the USA, Inc. suggests these steps in making traditional steeped iced tea. This method makes 1 gallon of brewed iced tea from each one ounce tea bag used. (four regular-sized tea bags may be subsituted for the 1-ounce size.)

1. Place one 1-ounce tea bag into a clean sanitized container for each gallon of iced tea desired.
2. Pour one quart of boiling (or greater than 175 degrees F) water for each tea bag used and steep for 3 - 5 minutes. Minimally, tea leaves must be exposed to water at a temperature of 175 degrees F for approximately 5 minutes.
3. Remove tea bag and add 3 quarts of fresh; cold water to yield one gallon of iced tea.
4. Hot tea cooled rapidly may become cloudy due to tannins (released from the steeped tea) precipitating out of solution. One way to avoid cloudiness is to steep tea with very hot water (greater than 175 degrees F) but not boiling and add cool water to the tea concentrate to bring the temperature down gradually before refrigerating or adding ice.

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