Terrified of the "technology" of making iced tea and lemon tea on the sidewalk

Holding a tap to pump water, the shop owner in Thu Duc University Village, Ho Chi Minh City, drained water into a plastic bucket, then poured a cup of pre-brewed strong tea into it, stirred it, added a block of ice, and the resulting iced tea was brought out to serve the student football team.

The plastic bucket contained about 10 liters of water and ice, with a few tea leaves on it. The water was a pale yellow color. Before pouring the water in, the shop owner had only rinsed it briefly, so the dirt was still in the bucket.

After a few balls, the players were exhausted and sweating profusely, so they stopped by the sidelines to scoop up some "iced tea" from the plastic bucket and gulped it down. "I know that 90% of the iced tea here is unboiled water, but I've drunk it many times and haven't had any stomachaches or other symptoms," said Nguyen Huu Nam, a third-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education. "Also, I think that when you sweat so much playing football, the dirty water will come out, so it's probably okay," the young man joked.

The owner of this shop has a recipe for making iced tea that every "footballer" knows: 1 cup of strong tea + 5 liters of water + 1 block of ice = 10 liters of iced tea. The price of this iced tea box is 5,000 VND. "We are healthy men, so if we accidentally drink contaminated water, it's okay. Everyone here is the same. If you are worried, you can bring a bottle of water to drink, but you can't ask the owner to mix the water the way you want," said male student Do Hoang Tien (University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City).

"I've been selling iced tea like this for a long time, and I've never heard any complaints from customers," the shop owner explained, adding, "No one cooks a whole barrel of tea to sell."

Many tea shops in Hanoi have pre-mixed tea in bottles, jars, or barrels.. When a customer ordered, the owner of a roadside tea shop took an old plastic cup, dropped an ice cube in it, and placed it under a 5-liter can containing ready-made tea, cloudy as the color of the earth. In a split second, a glass of iced tea was handed to the customer, and the shop owner earned 4,000 VND.

Dozens of cups that customers had just finished drinking from were thrown into a 5-liter water can with the top cut off, pitch black, used as a dishwashing bucket. The water seller cursed as he washed the cups. He called it washing cups, but in reality he was rinsing two 5-liter cans placed next to each other containing a small amount of water. From morning to afternoon, all the cups were washed in these two cans, the shop owner never changed the water. After the cups were rinsed, they were sold to the next customers. During peak times when he couldn't keep up with the service, this seller would take the cup that someone had just drunk from and pour new water for other customers. This person could sell several hundred cups a day.

Xuan Thuy, Cau Giay (Hanoi) area has many large universities, so there are many sidewalk cafes. A vendor here said that the distance from the gate of the Pedagogical College to the National University is about a few dozen meters, her family alone has 3 cafes: one owned by her, one managed by her husband, and the other by her daughter-in-law.

"My shop sells tea for 70,000 VND per kilogram, unlike other shops that only sell tea for 30,000 VND per kilogram," said the shop owner. The shop advertises tea mixed with lotus heart, but many people who drink the tea here wonder if the water smells bad. The owner said that good tea must have a light green color, be clear, and have a fragrant taste. Tea that is red and has scum on it is mostly bran tea or cheap moldy tea. Tea that is yellow and has a musty smell is mostly because it has been brewed for too long, causing the water to change color. "Tea must be left until the next day to go bad. Tea that is not sold out can be kept in the refrigerator for several days," she said.

Not only is iced tea of ​​poor quality, butLemon tea, which is very popular, is also prepared "quickly" by sellers in a pre-made form.Nha Tho Street (Hanoi) is considered the birthplace of the "lemon tea and gossip" trend. Right at this "lemon tea paradise", many users are skeptical about the brewing technology.

At a lemon tea shop here, the tea is pre-made and stored in a painted bucket on the tiled floor, without a lid. The tea is the color of coffee. Every time a customer orders, the seller takes a plastic cup and scoops the water from the bucket into a glass cup, adding an ice cube and a slice of pre-cut lemon. The process of completing a cup of "specialty" lemon tea only takes a few seconds. The drinker does not know what ingredients this pre-made tea is made from or how it is prepared.

Or hanging out at the sidewalk for iced tea, Chi Cong (26 years old, Thanh Hoa) said he had drunk some "disastrous" teas. Many shops use bran tea, pre-mixed in plastic bottles, red in color, with a layer of scum. Every time he pours it for a customer, the seller has to pour the water through a filter to remove the tea residue. "There is still a lot of residue at the bottom of the cup. I have to pour the scum off the top, wait a while for the residue to settle before I dare to drink it," Cong said.

According to the male student, his lemon tea is still "delicious and safe" compared to other shops. He warned: "Many people use bran tea, the kind used to embalm dead bodies, or Chinese tea, adding a little lemon flavoring and chemical sugar. These types are sold everywhere in Dong Xuan market."

According to (VnExpress)- TL