Small batch sun tea

When I was a girl growing up in Northern California, we had intensely hot summers. Temps ran up to 110
My mom always took advantage of the heat to make refreshing sun tea.

Sun tea lets the sun do all the work. No electricity needed. 

I had bought myself a sun tea jar at Target that was a steal at $5.00. Of course, when I boiled it in hot water to sterilize it, it cracked and broke. So, I figured it was a chance to make smaller batches in jars. 

Sun tea can be whatever you want. Use tea bags, fresh herbs, spices... Play with flavor combinations. For a big sun tea container, I recommend 5 teabags, but for the small jars, I used 2 tea bags each. 

First step is to sterilize your vessel. Any liquid sitting out in hot sun can be a good host for bacteria, so you need to be safe, like all room temperature preserved foods. (You can boil the jars in water or run them through the dishwasher on the extra hot cycle)

I like a nice spicy kick to my sun tea. For each jar I used one bag of decaf black tea and one bag of orange spice. (I use decaf only because my kids will be drinking it too.) 

To each jar I added a cinnamon stick and a star anise, which has a bit of a spicy black licorice flavor. 

Add water to the jars and cover. Find a spot that will remain sunny for the duration of 2-4 hours. Don't leave tea out longer than that, to avoid bacterial growth. Bring the jars inside, and drink warm or cool in the fridge and serve with ice for a cool summer treat! 

You can sweeten if you like with sugar, sweetener, honey or sugar water. I prefer unsweetened. Enjoy!