Sometime it feels like a childhood memory floods-in out of no where. We have been experiencing a beautiful albeit hot summer and as a result my mind got to wandering and daydreaming about iced tea. I haven’t had iced tea in a while due to the fact that I tend to be very sensitive to caffeine. Then…WHAM…memories of being a kid and making sun tea. My sister and I used to love to fill our mom’s big sun tea jar with water and tea bags. I figured, why wouldn’t it work with herbal tea bags?!?!
I spend the winter sipping Celestial Seasonings Country Peach Passion tea while dreaming about when peaches will be in season (apparently I do my fair share of daydreaming). Why not use the peach tea to make a wonderful summertime treat of Peach Sun Tea?
The great thing about sun tea is that you can make whatever flavor you like and you can steep it to your preferred strength. All it takes is a minute in the morning to fill your big glass jug with filtered water (I used an 8 cup Ball mason jar), then you drop in 4-6 tea bags, and place it out in the sun. Leave it out there all day if you’d like. We prepared ours before bringing my son to camp in the morning and came home to wonderful peach sun tea before dinnertime. My kids were amazed by how hot the tea was (we placed our jar in the backyard on the slate patio…the slate burns the heck out of our feet, so it is prime for making sun tea).
I have really been enjoying the tea on its own or sweetened with a little bit of stevia and have a feeling that it is going to be a staple for me throughout the summer. I look forward to making many different flavors of sun tea…Black Cherry Berry, Cranberry Apple Zinger, Tropic of Strawberry, Decaf Constant Comment (my Grammy’s favorite, so it will always be mine too), Decaf Green Tea…the list will go on and on.
There are risks associated with this method of making tea which are pretty compelling. I used to make it as well until I found a safer way.http://englishtea.us/2009/06/12/the-dark-side-of-sun-tea/
Interesting article…thanks for sharing. I am trying the cold brew method right now and look forward to seeing how it turns out!
I too remember sun tea when I was younger but then had heard of the warnings of doing so. I do make mine in the refrigerator now, it really turns out just as good! You’re so right, using all the flavored teas gives plain old tea drinking a nice variety of flavors! There’s nothig better than cold iced tea on a hot day!
I tried making it in the fridge and it is good…not as strong, but good enough. I suppose if I want it stronger I can always steep the tea in boiling water and then refrigerate it. Better safe than sorry!