Sun Iced Tea

As summer gets nearer, I crave iced tea more and more. It is one of those drinks that is so refreshing and soothing and cools you down on a hot summer day.

I personally love to go to an outdoor coffee shop, buy an iced tea, and sip it (or rather chug it) while relaxing at a table out in the sun. However, if I bought tea at shops as much as I wanted, I would be broke pretty quickly; which is why I usually make it myself. 

A lot of people when making iced tea at home will heat up water and pour it on the tea leaves, and then throw in some ice cubes to cool it down; or they make the same hot tea and stick it in the fridge and wait for it to chill. I'm not particularly fond of either of these methods because I feel that the tea either gets too watered down, or I sit around forever anxiously waiting for it to chill (and I waste electricity by continually opening the fridge to see if its ready yet). 

So, I would like to share with you other tea fanatics a simple and quick way to make our beloved summer drink.

1. Fill a big glass pitcher up with water from the tap (my pitcher holds about half a gallon)

2. Add a few ice cubes

3. Throw in some tea bags (I generally use about 5, but it's very flexible)

4. Add anything else you might like in your tea (slices of lemon or a sprig of mint perhaps)

5. Cover the top of the pitcher with a lid or some plastic wrap

6. Stick it out in the sun and go about your business

7. When you check back and it looks like tea, you're good to go! (it will take about an hour or two)

A glass I just put out a couple minutes ago. I added a slice of lime for fun.

Now that I am student, I unfortunately no longer have a big glass pitcher. So today when I woke up, with sun pouring into my room and a desire to drink iced tea on my back patio, I had to come up with a modified method of making iced tea.

This simplified student version of sun iced tea is actually even easier. I filled a pint mason jar with some water from the tap, threw in one tea bag, screwed on the top, and stuck it outside in the sun. It was ready within 10 minutes! I then tossed in one ice cube and I was all set.

It was this mason jar version of iced tea that inspired me to write this blog post today. As I sat on my patio I came to a wonderful realization. When I am out on the town or on campus between classes, I always want ice tea, but I hate buying it all the time. I felt at a complete loss. However, now I realize that if I throw a mason jar and a few tea bags in my backpack, I can make iced tea anywhere that I can get some running water and a little bit of sun. 

Happy Spring!