Cool Down Hot Days with some Homemade Cold Tea

By Kaitlin Koppenal

Growing up, I can remember my mother putting a pitcher of water with tea bags on the back porch. In about 4-5 hours, we had some homemade sun tea. I love all teas, hot, iced, and sun. There is nothing better than working outside in the garden and having a nice glass of cold tea, or anytime of the day for that matter. I love adding other items from my garden into my glass of tea too. Adding some fresh mint from my garden adds a whole other element to my sun or iced tea.

I do prefer to add something to my sun tea, like mint or lemon, because most of the time, sun tea seems to be a little weaker in taste then I am used to from iced tea made using boiling water. However, I love the process of making the sun tea and the fact that the heat emitted from the sun is what brewed this yummy tea.

Below is a super easy recipe for sun tea and some other cold tea drinks that will refresh you in the warm weather!

Sun Tea Can be made with Herbal tea as well.

Ingredients:

• 4-6 tea bags
• 1 lemon, sliced into wedges
• Granulated sugar for taste

Method:

Put 4-6 tea bags into a clean 2 quart glass container. Fill with water and cover it with a lid. Place the container outside where the sun can strike the pitcher. Move the container if required so that it is in direct sunlight the whole time. Remove from the sun once the desired strength is achieved, usually 4-5 hours. Remove the tea bags. Place container into the refrigerator and sweeten with sugar and add wedges of lemon if desired.

Honey Iced Tea

Ingredients:

• 4 cups boiling water
• 12 tea bags
• 1 lemon (juiced)
• ¼ cup honey
• 4 cups cold water

Method:

Add tea bags to boiling water; allow to steep for 3-5 minutes. Remove tea bags and add the lemon juice and honey. Stir to combine. Add cold water and refrigerate. Pour over ice cubes in tall glass and serve.

Tea A La Mode

Ingredients:

• 2 cups double strength tea
• 1 pint vanilla ice cream

Method:

Combine tea and ice cream into a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a tall glass.