Sun Tea!

When I was growing up, I spent nearly every Saturday night with my Granny and Grandydaddy. We had tons of fun...swinging on the porch swing with Granny, going to KFC for chicken littles, watching Hee-Haw with Grandydaddy. Those were the days. And Granny always had a pitcher of sweet iced tea in the refrigerator. She may not have been the greatest cook in the world, but man, could she make some good sweet tea! I wouldn't want to guess how much sugar she put in it, but it was absolutely delicious! Strangely, though, at my house, we didn't drink iced tea. We mostly just drank water. Soft drinks were pretty rare at my house growing up, and I think we usually kept some apple juice, but mostly, it was water. But it never failed...during the summer, Mom would get out that big glass jar and make sun tea! I always forget about it until about mid-summer when I'm strolling through Wal-Mart and I see the sun tea jars. I always reminisce about having sun tea, but I'd never bought a jar of my own. Until yesterday! I was so excited to make my first batch of summer sun tea! Check it out...
This is the sun tea this morning at about 7:30 when I put it out on the porch. I used 4 family-sized Lipton tea bags. I felt like I should use more, but I like to err on the side of caution. I wanted to see how strong it would be with four bags.
This was the sun tea this afternoon at about 5:00! It's deceptively dark. I just poured me a glass, and it's a little weak. Oh, it's still delicious, but a little weak. I think for the next batch, I'll use 6 tea bags and see what happens. It's officially summer, folks. Break out your sun tea jars! You can't get any "greener" than this!

Sun Tea

6 family-size tea bags

1 gallon water

Plenty of hot, summer sun

Fill your sun tea jar with water and add your tea bags, leaving the strings hanging outside the jar. Place the full jar in a warm, sunny location for 6-8 hours (or longer if you want). When you bring the tea inside, take out the tea bags and squeeze out the excess tea. Sweeten to taste, and enjoy! If you like a fruity flavor, use 1 or 2 flavored tea bags, along with 4 or 5 regular tea bags.