"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott" wrote:
> > 2) Perhaps your new environment has some unusually vigorous airborne
bacteria
> > that go to work on your spent tea leaves overnight.
>
> This is indeed a poser. If there are some mysterious airborne critters
> they are unaffected by 90C water. And they grow nowhere else. Not that I
> normally keep bunches of wet leaves lying around the place.
> ... If it is
> somehow contaminated or comes bearing some evil thermophilic life from
> another planet, surely someone would have noticed by now. Also, about a
> month ago, the packaging changed to vacuum-sealed bags. Now we have a
> life form that tolerates high temperatures and the vacuum of space.


Working upwards...

The vacuum of space is a pretty hostile place for bugs, but not because of
the vacuum. The killer is radiation, from UV to gamma plus charged
particles. Many small life-forms can tolerate dehydration and cold.

There certainly are bacteria that can live in near-boiling water. The key
enabler for both DNA testing and much of biotech is an enzyme call TAq
polymerase, from a bug called thermus aquaticus collected in a Yellowstone
boiling pool. There's something living in virtually every known wet
environment below 100C, and who knows what remains to be found? Everywhere
from deep mines laden with toxic metals, surface hot springs, and the "cool"
zones around deep-sea vents. Not to mention man-made places around power
plants, etc.

It's axiomatic that life will assert itself in every possible environment,
and "possible" can stretch itself. For example, thermophilic bacteria have
evolved special fats in their cell membranes that make them more physically
stable at high temperatures.

It's not clear from what's been said so far that it is an infection, though
that seems likely. Other explanations are possible. I would suggest an
inoculation experiment: make some strong tea, and leave it in a glass with a
bit of the gloop and a small piece of leaf.

Some bacteria and molds certainly do give off mucopolysaccharides and other
viscous or gelling polymers; a few are even harvested commercially. It's
entirely possible that a bug or mold evolved in hot tea, rests dormant at
lower temperatures or when dry, and has back-infected tea at the source.
Might be fun to send a sample to a university bio lab - they might be very
interested. Might even turn out to be good for something, like a natural
thickener for green-tea ice cream.

-DM