Sun Tea, a Southwest Tradition
Summer and sun tea, yes making your own couldn’t be easier. Sun tea seems to capture the bright summer sunshine in a refreshing iced tea. If you grew up in the southwest you probably remember your mom making sun tea! I know we did long before our family got into the coffee and tea business.
Tea in water releases it’s flavor whether it is hot , cold or in between. When the liquid is hot, we call it steeping. This is the quickest method. If the liquid is cold, cold brewed tea and this takes the longest. For Sun tea is will take approximately 3-5 hours. Each method produces a different flavor from the tea.
Check out our easy to follow steps on Sun Tea!
What you Need:
- 6 teaspoons full tea ( approx 1 1/2 oz) We suggest Passport Blend, Tropical, Fresh Peach, Mango, Prickly Pear for black teas. Choose a fruit or herbal tea such as Kiwi Strawberry, Cactus Blossom or Wellness blend.
- Tea- bags- use draw string tea bags, or make your own by tying up the tea loosely in a coffee filter with string.
- 1- clean gallon glass container
- 1 gallon of filtered water
Step 1: Sterilize the glass container.
Step 2: Add your tea bags hanging the string outside the container
Step 3: Pour in the desires amount of water and close the lid.
Place your sun tea container outside where the sunlight wil shine directly on the container for about 3 to 5 hours. Move the container if necessary to keep it in the sun. When the tea has reached its desired strength, remove the tea bags, pour a glass of ice and enjoy!
The tea will probably taste more mellow than what you are used to from using boiling water. The slow steeping 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.
Enjoy!
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