How To Make Sun Tea
Ah, tea in the sun. The nostalgic childhood drink that brings back warm memories of sitting on our back porch sipping tea and spitting out watermelon seeds.
It seems like all my teenage summer memories involve a large glass jug of this amber fire extinguisher. I remember drinking tea in the sun while helping my grandmother eat peas in her rocking chair. I remember drinking it at the pool parties on the 4th of July. I remember taking it at family gatherings on the beach.
In fact, I can never remember not having tea in the sun in summer. This makes me wonder why sun tea has become a lost art.
The other day, I dropped a green tea bag into my water bottle before meeting a friend for a workout. He noticed that my water bottle was shaking with a tea bag and questions began to arise.
How Do You Prepare Tea In The Sun?
Because you do that? (Because it tastes good and has no calories).
Was your water hot? (No.)
Is the tea really steeped in cold water? (Yes.)
How long does it take? (Not so long.)
My training partner was so in love with the idea of putting a tea bag in cold water that it made me realize that maybe that’s why people don’t make tea in the sun anymore.
So today I want to share the basics of learning how to make tea in the sun.
Sun Tea 101
First, the tea leaves release their flavor in liquid form. Period.
It doesn’t matter if the water is hot, cold, or somewhere in between. When the liquid is hot, we call it soaking. If the liquid is cold, it is technically just plain old brew. Either way, it doesn’t really matter what you call it. When the tea leaves get wet, the flavor comes out.
The reason most people soak tea in hot water (in addition to liking hot beverages) is that the tea releases its flavor faster when the water is hot. A quick-release in a short period of time generally results in an intense flavor and deep color.
That is not to say that the same cannot happen in cold or warm water over a longer period of time.
The general idea of making tea in the sun is to make a large quantity of iced tea for the summer without having to turn on the stove.
How To Make Tea In The Sun
To make homemade sun tea, simply fill a large glass dispenser with water and add 8 tea bags per gallon, depending on the size of your container.
I poured 1 & frac12; gallons of water in my dispenser so I added 12 tea bags.
The type of tea you use is completely up to you. Traditional southern iced tea is usually made with some type of black tea blends, such as Lipton or Luzianne. But feel free to explore and get creative here. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my mom about making tea, it’s that the best-iced teas often come from a random mix of whatever kinds of tea bags you have stashed in your pantry.
For example, green tea, hibiscus tea, and peach tea are mixed to make a wonderful fruity iced tea with a rich red color.
Once the tea bags are in the water, cover the dispenser and place it in the sun. The amount of time it will take for the tea to sit in the sun is based on several factors:
How hot is it outside?
What kind of tea are you using?
How big is your teapot?
How dark do you like your tea?
A general time frame is 2 to 3 hours of sunshine. I am known for bringing mine after only an hour on a very hot day.
Once the sunshine tea has the color and flavor you want, sweeten the tea if desired.
Rather than add the sugar and watch the granules settle to the bottom of the jar, I like to sweeten my sun tea with honey or agave. Stirs nice and smooth.
How much you use is completely up to you. Add & frac14; cup at a time and taste after stirring before adding more.
Lastly, if you like lemon or lime in your tea, go ahead and throw them in the dispenser. They will give the tea a slight citrus note and will also serve as a garnish.
Remind:
Add 8 tea bags per 1 gallon of water
Use any combination of tea bags you like
Sweeten with a liquid sweetener, if desired.
Garnish with citrus
You can do it! And hopefully, you will also try the teabag in the exercise water bottle hack. It’s a great way to encourage yourself to rehydrate!
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