How and why of ruined sweet tea

I have been googling around looking for the answer to this question
but I have been unsuccessful.

How does sweet tea ruin? And why does it taste the way that it does?
For instance I have bought a gallon of sweet tea from McCalisters
which tasted fine the day I bought it. Then I stored the tea overnight
in the frig. When I come back the next day and drink it, the tea has a
strange taste. I have consulted with older southern tea drinkers who
refer to this taste as "ruurnt" or "ruined".

My friend who drinks tea thinks the tea still tastes fine. I think he
is wrong. Any ideas on where I should look to find this type of
information.

Thanks ahead of time.

"Tony Colston" <agcolston@buckman.com> wrote in message
news:c017c9ec.0405171133.5f455699@c om...
> I have been googling around looking for the answer to this question
> but I have been unsuccessful.
>
> How does sweet tea ruin? And why does it taste the way that it does?
> For instance I have bought a gallon of sweet tea from McCalisters
> which tasted fine the day I bought it. Then I stored the tea overnight
> in the frig. When I come back the next day and drink it, the tea has a
> strange taste. I have consulted with older southern tea drinkers who
> refer to this taste as "ruurnt" or "ruined".
>
> My friend who drinks tea thinks the tea still tastes fine. I think he
> is wrong. Any ideas on where I should look to find this type of
> information.
>
> Thanks ahead of time.

Any number of things could have happened. Tea particles in the container
could have made the tea too tannic, i.e.. bitter. Some people are less
sensitive to this tannic taste than others. Or the tea could have gotten
warm before you bought it, and it might have spoiled. I'm not sure what
taste is called 'ruined', as I'm not from the South. In Maryland where my
mother is from they call sweet tea 'iced tea'.

agcolston@buckman.com (Tony Colston) writes:

> I have been googling around looking for the answer to this question
> but I have been unsuccessful.
>
> How does sweet tea ruin? And why does it taste the way that it does?
> For instance I have bought a gallon of sweet tea from McCalisters
> which tasted fine the day I bought it. Then I stored the tea overnight
> in the frig. When I come back the next day and drink it, the tea has a
> strange taste. I have consulted with older southern tea drinkers who
> refer to this taste as "ruurnt" or "ruined".

I think it's unlikely the tea itself went off. If you stored it
without an airtight seal, perhaps some odour/scent/gas in the fridge
got into it.

Fridges can get very `dirty'.

Cheers,

- Joel

It gets worse...
Once I asked for hot tea and they just brought me iced tea with the ice
removed.
Once I asked for hot tea and they brewed it with flush water from the coffee
maker (had soap in it from where they were flushing the system)
Once I asked for hot tea and they brought me some nasty orange spice stuff,
and when I asked for plain tea, they brought me iced tea.

"J Boehm" <danube@cwcom.delete.net> wrote in message
news:pan.2004.05.18.05.59.34.477654@cwcom.delete.n et...
> On Mon, 17 May 2004 22:30:13 +0000, Tea wrote:
>
> >
> > "Tony Colston" <agcolston@buckman.com> wrote in message
> > news:c017c9ec.0405171133.5f455699@c om...
> >> I have been googling around looking for the answer to this question but
> >> I have been unsuccessful.
> >>
> >> How does sweet tea ruin? And why does it taste the way that it does?
For
> >> instance I have bought a gallon of sweet tea from McCalisters which
> >> tasted fine the day I bought it. Then I stored the tea overnight in the
> >> frig. When I come back the next day and drink it, the tea has a strange
> >> taste. I have consulted with older southern tea drinkers who refer to
> >> this taste as "ruurnt" or "ruined".
> >>
> >> My friend who drinks tea thinks the tea still tastes fine. I think he
is
> >> wrong. Any ideas on where I should look to find this type of
> >> information.
> >>
> >> Thanks ahead of time.
> >
> > Any number of things could have happened. Tea particles in the container
> > could have made the tea too tannic, i.e.. bitter. Some people are less
> > sensitive to this tannic taste than others. Or the tea could have
gotten
> > warm before you bought it, and it might have spoiled. I'm not sure what
> > taste is called 'ruined', as I'm not from the South. In Maryland where
my
> > mother is from they call sweet tea 'iced tea'.
>
> Scene in a US restaurant:
>
> waitress: sweet or unsweet?
> European: unsweet
> w: (wants to go)
> E: oh, and could you drop the ice?
> w: (disbelief)
> E: and could you put it in the microwave?
> w: (aghast)
> E: and could you add a bit of milk
> w: (terror)
> E: full fat, please
> w: s'cuse me Sir, are you European?
>

It is funny to listen to this thread really. Being in the south I
think all tea should be sweet... at least the the type of tea I drink
in the summer. Sweet and iced.

I wish that I could explain the taste that I am talking about. It
happens to all tea eventually I have just noticed it happening to
sweet tea quicker. Maybe that helps. To me it is a sour taste but once
again it is hard to put your finger on it.

I will keep looking around for answers.

Thanks for all of the replies.

"Tea" <thereisno@ddress.com> wrote in message news:<V1bqc.128391$WA4.41003@twister.nyc.>.. .
> "Tony Colston" <agcolston@buckman.com> wrote in message
> news:c017c9ec.0405171133.5f455699@c om...
> > I have been googling around looking for the answer to this question
> > but I have been unsuccessful.
> >
> > How does sweet tea ruin? And why does it taste the way that it does?
> > For instance I have bought a gallon of sweet tea from McCalisters
> > which tasted fine the day I bought it. Then I stored the tea overnight
> > in the frig. When I come back the next day and drink it, the tea has a
> > strange taste. I have consulted with older southern tea drinkers who
> > refer to this taste as "ruurnt" or "ruined".
> >
> > My friend who drinks tea thinks the tea still tastes fine. I think he
> > is wrong. Any ideas on where I should look to find this type of
> > information.
> >
> > Thanks ahead of time.
>
> Any number of things could have happened. Tea particles in the container
> could have made the tea too tannic, i.e.. bitter. Some people are less
> sensitive to this tannic taste than others. Or the tea could have gotten
> warm before you bought it, and it might have spoiled. I'm not sure what
> taste is called 'ruined', as I'm not from the South. In Maryland where my
> mother is from they call sweet tea 'iced tea'.

"Derek" <news@gwinn.us> wrote in message
news:Xns94ECDFF2AA5A9dagwinn@130.133.1.4...
> While intrepidly exploring rec.food.drink.tea, Tea rolled
> initiative and posted the following:
>
> >
> > "Tony Colston" <agcolston@buckman.com> wrote in message
> > news:c017c9ec.0405171133.5f455699@c om...
> >> I have been googling around looking for the answer to this
> >> question but I have been unsuccessful.
> >>
> >> How does sweet tea ruin? And why does it taste the way that it
> >> does? For instance I have bought a gallon of sweet tea from
> >> McCalisters which tasted fine the day I bought it. Then I
> >> stored the tea overnight in the frig. When I come back the next
> >> day and drink it, the tea has a strange taste. I have consulted
> >> with older southern tea drinkers who refer to this taste as
> >> "ruurnt" or "ruined".
> >>
> >> My friend who drinks tea thinks the tea still tastes fine. I
> >> think he is wrong. Any ideas on where I should look to find
> >> this type of information.
> >>
> >> Thanks ahead of time.
> >
> > Any number of things could have happened. Tea particles in the
> > container could have made the tea too tannic, i.e.. bitter.
> > Some people are less sensitive to this tannic taste than others.
> > Or the tea could have gotten warm before you bought it, and it
> > might have spoiled. I'm not sure what taste is called 'ruined',
> > as I'm not from the South. In Maryland where my mother is from
> > they call sweet tea 'iced tea'.
>
> While all sweet tea is iced tea, not all iced tea is sweet tea.
>
> Here in Minnesota, you can get iced tea in any restaurant. But if
> you want sweet tea, you've got to add your own sugar. In many
> places in the south, you've got a choice when you order.

You will usually be served tea without sugar in restaurants in Maryland, but
at home you'll beserved tea with sugar. Still, I've heard both kinds
referred to as iced tea only. Of course Maryland is slightly above the
Mason Dixon line, so that may have something to do with it.
>
> --
> Derek
>
> Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lighting kills hundreds
> of people each year who are trying to find it.

Maryland is not slightly above the MD line, check out where the two
lines actually are and you will be surprised.

JJ

Tea wrote:
> Of course Maryland is slightly above the
> Mason Dixon line, so that may have something to do with it.
> >
> > --
> > Derek
> >
> > Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but lighting kills hundreds
> > of people each year who are trying to find it.

I've encountered something similar, though in my experience it isn't as
noticeable when the tea is sweetened since the sugar drowns out some of the
unpleasantness. There have been a couple times in restuarants where I've
ordered ice tea and it has a sort of metallic, sour flavor. I've usually
just blamed it on poor quality or not cleaning out the machine regularly.
However, I did a bit of an experiment where I brewed up my own ice tea and
just left it out on the counter (actually I had no room in the fridge). It
didn't taste noticeably different after the first day or so, but after two
days it definitely had a foreign nip to it. I imagine sweetened tea might
offer more material for the bacteria to work with and thus go "off" a little
quicker. I used to like my tea sweetened but while it tastes good going
down, it tends to leave a sort of cloying aftertaste in my mouth. It may
just be me, wonder if anyone else has had this problem.

"Tea" <thereisno@ddress.com> wrote in message
news:Rf2rc.131550$WA4.78397@twister.nyc....
>
> "Tony Colston" <agcolston@buckman.com> wrote in message
> news:c017c9ec.0405191043.f32550c@co m...
> > It is funny to listen to this thread really. Being in the south I
> > think all tea should be sweet... at least the the type of tea I drink
> > in the summer. Sweet and iced.
>
> Being from the North, tea comes in two types. But it's seasonal. In the
> summer, 'tea' at my house is sweet and iced, unless specified otherwise.
> Even if it's herbal.
> >
> > I wish that I could explain the taste that I am talking about. It
> > happens to all tea eventually I have just noticed it happening to
> > sweet tea quicker. Maybe that helps. To me it is a sour taste but once
> > again it is hard to put your finger on it.
>
> I think it's a mixture of tannins and that yeasty kind of flavor. You're
> right- all tea gets like that, and it happens faster when it's sweetened.
> To my taste buds it's not sour, though. It's bitter.
>
> For this reason I make iced tea in small batches, and sometimes sweeten it
> with sugar syrup by the glass.
> >
> > I will keep looking around for answers.
> >
> > Thanks for all of the replies.
> >
> > "Tea" <thereisno@ddress.com> wrote in message
> news:<V1bqc.128391$WA4.41003@twister.nyc.>.. .
> > > "Tony Colston" <agcolston@buckman.com> wrote in message
> > > news:c017c9ec.0405171133.5f455699@c om...
> > > > I have been googling around looking for the answer to this question
> > > > but I have been unsuccessful.
> > > >
> > > > How does sweet tea ruin? And why does it taste the way that it does?
> > > > For instance I have bought a gallon of sweet tea from McCalisters
> > > > which tasted fine the day I bought it. Then I stored the tea
overnight
> > > > in the frig. When I come back the next day and drink it, the tea has
a
> > > > strange taste. I have consulted with older southern tea drinkers who
> > > > refer to this taste as "ruurnt" or "ruined".
> > > >
> > > > My friend who drinks tea thinks the tea still tastes fine. I think
he
> > > > is wrong. Any ideas on where I should look to find this type of
> > > > information.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks ahead of time.
> > >
> > > Any number of things could have happened. Tea particles in the
container
> > > could have made the tea too tannic, i.e.. bitter. Some people are
less
> > > sensitive to this tannic taste than others. Or the tea could have
> gotten
> > > warm before you bought it, and it might have spoiled. I'm not sure
what
> > > taste is called 'ruined', as I'm not from the South. In Maryland
where
> my
> > > mother is from they call sweet tea 'iced tea'.
>
>