... equals Sun Tea! As the mercury rises these hot summer days,a great way to make some tea without heating up your kitchen is to use the power of the sun to make sun tea. A childhood favourite introduced by my Mom. And so the tradition continues, now i have my very own Sun Tea Jar!
I remember growing up, coming back from school, we would see the Sun Tea Jar on the porch, having steeped in the sun for an hour or so. We would collect it for my Mom and then add lemons to the tea. It was such a thirst quencher on hot days. For whatever reason, the Sun Tea always tasted better in my Mom's drinking glass.
My Mom kept the recipe simple and never got fancy with it but you can be as creative as you want to be with Sun Tea. The tea can be infused with different types of herbs such as mint (as the image above), fruits (peaches, mango, lemon, pomegranate) and different types of tea leaves. Personally, i prefer Sun Tea the simple version: steeped with orange pekoe tea leaves for an hour, then add the lemons. Why mess with one of life's simple pleasures.
Basic Sun Tea Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 4 - 6 tea bags ( I use 6, stronger the better!)
- secret ingredient... the 2 qt glass jar. I got mine from my Mom's basement.
METHOD
Put 4 to 6 tea bags into a clean 2 quart glass container. Fill with water and cap. Place outside where the sunlight can shine on the container for about 3 to 5 hours. When the tea has reached its desired strength, remove from sun and put it in the refrigerator. You may or may not want to remove the tea bags at this point. I usually remove the tea bag.
The tea will probably taste more mellow than what you are used to from using boiling water. The slow seeping has a way of bringing out a slightly different flavor from the tea. Also, because you didn't use boiling water, you should refrigerate the tea and drink it up pretty quickly - a day or two. It will not keep as well as iced tea made from boiling water.
I had some help from this site to compose the recipe, since i usually just wing-it. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sun_tea/.
go and enjoy the sun!
