My summer memories are warm and sun-drenched—Mel wearing a
blue and white striped tube top, and the three of us (Mel, Amanda, and myself)
swatting away the bees while picking tomatoes from the garden, our tall glasses
of sun tea nestled safely in the dirt, nothing but the sound of wind chimes and
towels on the clothes line, flapping in the breeze.
Summers just aren't the same without sun tea. Or sun, for
that matter—which we don’t seem to have a lot of these days. My balcony only
gets sun for a few hours in the morning, and it’s not that blazing hot summer
sun that I remember from childhood… the sun that could brew a gallon of tea in
two hours flat. Since I can’t rely on those few hours of weak, morning, Seattle
sun to heat up an entire gallon of tea, I make it in individual mason jars—a
glass of water and two bags of plain black tea—just enough for one or two
people.
It wouldn't be summer without it.
It wouldn't be summer without it.
PS. Rumor has it that sun tea—steeped at temperatures not
quite hot enough to kill bacteria—can make you ill. If you have concerns, there
are plenty of safety tips online, like how many hours you can safely brew your
tea in the sun, and how quickly your sun tea should be consumed after steeping.
You can also try the cold-brewing method, wherein you let the tea steep in the
fridge overnight.
PPS. I’ve been drinking sun tea for 26 years, Amanda for 28
years, and Mel and my grandma for at least 29 years (that’s how old my grandma was
last time I checked, and I don’t suppose my mom could surpass her in age…), and
none of us have fallen ill from it. The only thing we’ve fallen into from
drinking sun tea is a hot, sweet, lazy summer nap on the back porch.
