Make Sun Tea

One of my favorite drinks in the summer is sun tea. I know it might sound crazy, but I truly believe that tea steeped using sunshine tastes better than regular iced tea. It couldn’t be easier to make sun tea. Here’s how I do it.

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What is Sun Tea?

Basically it is exactly what it sounds like. Rather than boiling water on the stove to heat your tea, you are using the natural power of the sun to infuse water with delicious teas.

Why Make Sun Tea?

As I mentioned up above, sun tea simply tastes delicious. Maybe it is all in my head or maybe there is some legitimate science behind it. I honestly don’t know. What I do know is I love the taste and it is a fun, easy, drink to make.

How to Make Sun Tea

First, pick your brewing jar. Half gallon mason jars work the best. A glass pitcher would work well too so long as you can put a lid of some kind on it. For food safety reasons, plastic is not a good option. Plastic can get scratches that harbor bacteria.

It is also not recommended you use something that has a spigot as those can be hard to keep clean as well.

Just like if you were canning food, make sure your brewing jar is properly cleaned and sanitized. Running it through the dishwasher will do the job.

Add tea to your jar. If using tea bags, 3-4 should do it. You can experiment with more or less depending on your tastes. If using a loose leaf tea, add 3-4 generous tablespoons.

Fill your jar with cool, filtered water.

Cover the jar with a lid that seals. This will keep bugs and such out.

Place your jar outside in a warm sunny spot for 3-4 hours. Much longer than this can result in a bitter tea and also increases bacteria risk (see below). Herbal teas will be a soft golden color. Green, white, and black teas, will be a much darker color.

After brewing, remove the tea bags. You can sweeten the tea with sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc.

Pour over ice and garnish with lemon or mint. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator. For the best taste and food safety, plan to drink it up within 24 hours.

What if I have Loose Leaf Tea?

Here you have a few options.

The easiest method that I use is my glass sided french press. If you plan to make a lot of loose leaf sun teas, these aren’t that expensive and make brewing easy.

Simply put your herbs in, fill to the top with cool water, put the lid on, and set it in the sunshine, following the instructions above. When you are ready to drink it, push down the plunger and you are all set!

Another option would be to strain your tea through a fine strainer or coffee filter.

Teas to Try

We only drink herbal tea but you can brew any type of tea with this method. My absolute favorite tea to make in the summer is Celestial Seasonings Country Peach Passion. Here are some other flavors and I enjoy. You can always mix it up by combining them, too!

• Cranberry Apple Zinger (Celestial Seasonings)
• Citrus Sunrise (Celestial Seasonings)
• Ginger
• Peppermint
• Raspberry
• Sangria (Celestial Seasonings)
• Rose Hips with Hibiscus (Traditional Medicinals)
• Lemon Balm

A Word of Caution

I’d be remiss to suggest making sun tea with out putting a disclaimer out there.

My family has made sun tea for years and has never had any issues with it. I have never heard any news stories or anecdotal stories about people getting sick from sun tea. I even googled it and didn’t find any evidence. However, there is a chance that sun tea can harbor bacteria.

More information can be found here, but this is the gist.

According to the CDC, because you are not heating the tea water to above 195 degrees, there is a chance for bacteria to grow in your tea water and make you sick.

So long as you follow the brewing instructions above (most important being brew time, using clean jars, and drinking within 24 hours) this is not something I would personally be concerned about. However, if that makes you nervous, Bon Apetit has some other cold brew methods for making iced tea.

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