Sun Tea in the Summer

Around June I start pulling out the half gallon jars from the pantry. I fill them with water and put a couple scoops of tea in the strainer. Then they go out onto the back porch. As they sit there all day in the direct sunlight, the tea starts to release and at day’s end I have a nice batch of sun tea. I’ll let it cool for a while (sometimes the jar is almost too hot to touch) and then it goes in the refrigerator.

The back porch gets plenty of sun

Right I have two favorites: the first one is Ginger Peach. It’s a fragrant and delicious black tea, good both hot and cold. It will also give you a strong hit of caffeine, which can be handy on a long hot day

My other speciality is Hibiscus tea with fruit. Before I put the tea leaves in, I drop 5–6 frozen strawberries into the water, a generous handful of frozen blueberries, and an orange cut up into quarters — peel and all. If I have some lemon balm in the garden, I’ll cut a couple of sprigs and put them in there too, head first. After a good several hours in the sun, there is nothing more refreshing.

Hibiscus Ice Tea with fruit and lemon balm

Plain water ice can dilute the flavor of ice tea, so I make a little extra tea and turn those into ice cubes. After the cubes are frozen, I store them in a baggie in the freezer and pop them into the jug of tea to keep it cold.

I make heart shape ice in a silicon mold