I am a: Quirky sysadmin. Geek. Gamer. Comic fangirl. My little space, my home on the interwebs. I blog about personal stuffs, work, various coding projects, and anything else I feel like.

I have absolutely HATED the taste of lemon in my sweet tea for years. To this day, one of the quickest ways to get on my ‘bad side’ is to put one of those sour slices of Hades in my tea — especially if I had just asked someone not to do so. I’m pretty obsessive/neurotic about this, and don’t see myself getting past it anytime soon. ;)

Someone recently asked me why, besides the taste, I didn’t like lemons in my tea; and why couldn’t I just quietly take it out (and not make a fuss over it) like a “normal person.” I told her that I didn’t like the idea of someone (not me) putting their fingers in my drink. She said that if they do it right, no fingers touch my drink, just pop the lemon on the edge of the glass. I replied that we were assuming that the lemons being distributed were cut on a clean (sterilized!) cutting board or similar surface, and that the person or persons handling the slices/wedges were wearing gloves at the time, or used whatever scooping device to prevent them from touching unclean hands and/or another unclean surface.

That’s assuming a lot if you ask me.

I’ve worked in the food industry and I know for a fact that not all eatery/restaurant employees would be as diligent as I am about working with clean hands when dealing with food of any kind and maintaining a sanitary working/cooking environment so as to prevent any kind of contamination. That said, I’m glad to know that there have been many recent studies done which backup my “lemon paranoia,” including this one featured on SlashFood today! There’s even an entry on Snopes about it.

While the following video could be seen more as a scare tactic, the issue itself seems to still be open to debate. In the meantime, I will continue to be overly cautious about what I eat/drink when going out. (I can thank my mother for this neurosis, LOL!)

Decide for yourself: