Sun Tea Recipe For A Newbie
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Tea is a necessity. Period. But who does not know about how costly cooking gas is today. In that aspect, sun tea is a better alternative. Simply put, sun tea uses sun instead of gas. This unusual but exciting type of tea is getting famous day by day.
Many of you are wondering what this tea is. Well, tea leaves to release flavour in contact with liquid. The procedure uses this principle for making a cup of tea. In this guidepost, we will talk about this unique type of tea and ways of making it.
Knowing your sun tea in details
While someone is talking about making tea in particular, different people have different ways. Most of the time tea is something you make with hot boiling water. Then some add sugar or lemon or honey etc. etc. It is totally up to individual needs.
Most people use hot water because it is something that triggers tea leaves to release their flavor faster. But usually, people do not know the details. They do it because they have seen a particular procedure.
If more people knew the procedure of tea making with sunlight in summer, it could be a mainstream thing. Many people mix tea with their workout drink. Why? Because it becomes tasty. Also, it has zero calories.
So sun tea is an iced tea that uses the heat of the sunny summer. Generally, black teas are standard in this picture, but herbal teas, green teas are also becoming familiar with the total concept.
How do you make sun tea?
Well, until now I bet you all are thinking that making tea with sunshine is scary complicated. It is not. However, the procedure needs a bit of preparation. For newbies staying alert while making it is a crucial thing to do all the time.
Now let us look at the ingredients—nothing fancy here.
You need six to eight tea bags, around seven cups of water, ice, mint leaves, or lemon (optional).
- At first, you need to fill the sun tea jar with the water.
- Now add the tea bags into the water.
- Then you need to place the jar in a sunny spot. It will take nearly three hours.
How warm is that particular day also will make an affect how fast the tea is made.
- When you feel the tea is dark in color and flavor, you need to remove the tea bags. The procedure is complete.
- Now you can add ice or mint leaves when serving. You can also taste this with any homemade syrup.
Refrigeration is also a way to get a slightly different taste. But if you refrigerate, make sure that you drink it within two or three days. It will only last until that. Boiling water provides us with more flexibility, though.
Different teas and additives
There are many types of tea blends that are useful in making sun tea. People prefer herbal tea and green tea more though. But the mainstream object here is the black teas. It is like a conventional or go-to blend for most people.
Standard ice tea blends are trendy too. Specific ice tea bags are larger than usual ones. You have to manage here. More giant tea bags are family bags. If you use these family bags, use three bags instead of six to eight bags.
You can add your homemade additives into your tea. Take an equal amount of sugar with water and start heating it until the mixture dissolves completely. Mix it with your tea and enjoy the taste.
Always remember to add lemon slices and mint leaves only after the addition of syrup. It simply tastes better on a hot sunny day. Also do not forget to refrigerate or to add ice.
If you do not want sweet tea or extra calories, skip the additives part. You can and mix your syrup according to your taste also. If you don’t want to taste intense sweetness, you better add your syrup one-third of what you generally add.
Though it is not a usual thing, honey can also be used as an alternative to your syrup. Fit people can avoid sugar-syrup because of its dietary effect. But honey is something that anyone can trust upon.
Storing your sun tea and preparation time
If you are in a hurry, you can freeze some ice cubes beforehand and add them directly to your tea. But it is conventional to store your jar in the freezer. It is summer, and you want your tea cold. That is why refrigeration is essential.
Preparation Time:
Preparation time is the trickiest part of all the steps. If you are in luck of a super sunny day, then the preparation can take as little as one hour. But also a convenient way comes in the play.
Here three hour is the conventional time. Depending upon the strength of the sunlight, the time also varies. If it is not such a sunny day, the procedure can extend up to five hours.
The overall thing is strong sunny weather means less time and a weak sun results in more time. You can think sun tea preparation is over when a full red colour appears in the jar.
Sun Tea Risks
Although it is rare, there is some risk in the making of sun tea. The problem arises when bacterial growth comes into the scene. Boiling water eliminates this threat. When boiling, there is no risk of bacterial growth.
Because of the boiling temperature, no bacteria can survive. But normal or mildly warm water is not capable of killing bacterial growth. Alongside the water, tea leaves out in the sun trigger bacterial rise in the jar.
The best method to cope up with this is to take precautions. You already know normal water cannot eliminate bacteria on its own. So first wash your container in soap water and then in bleach as an extra caution.
Do not let the jar stay in the sun for more than three or four hours. Also, do not prepare more than you need for a day. Also, avoid herbal tea as it lacks caffeine. Less caffeine means more vulnerability to bacteria.
