DIY -- sun tea

Do it.  It's one of the best advantages you  can take of summer weather.

Get a big old glass jug with a lid.
Fill it with water, hot is good.
Stir in sugar to taste*.
Put in enough tea bags for the number of glasses of tea you  can get out of the jug.
Put the lid on.
If you use a jar that has a label, turn the label to the shady side or peel part of it off so the sun gets into one whole side of the jar.
Set it in a place that will get at least 6 hours of sun.
Bring it in, stir up the sugar, let it cool off, then put it in the  fridge.

Use any bag tea that you like to make iced tea from anyway.
I use Constant Comment, an orange-and-spice tea from Baltimore.
It works at least as well as the bags specially marked for sun tea, and which are more expensive.
Sun tea is way cheaper than buying gallon jugs of pre-made iced tea.
It has no added chemicals.
You control the sweetness.
It uses no electricity, unless you run hot water into the jug, and if you start a jug right after you wash dishes, you don't waste water getting it hot first, the pipes already have hot water in them.

*  My sister in Georgia gave me this tip. 
South of the Mason-Dixon line, people tend to like their sweet drinks VERY sweet.
It's one reason why fast food restaurants now offer sweet iced tea.
In Georgia, they tend to put malt syrup in their sun tea instead of hoping for the sugar to dissolve.
I haven't had a problem and I live in Maryland where we don't get quite so hot as Georgia does.
I always have sugar around anyway, but not malt syrup.
YMMV.

I have read about concerns about people getting food poisoning from sun tea.
If you use the same tea bags you use to make hot tea, but
you get the collywobbles after drinking sun tea,
I recommend getting your water tested for bacterial contamination and using a filter until the test results come back.
The water treatment plant or your pipes could be sub-standard.

Yes, it takes all day to brew. 
Use a big enough jug or enough big jars to suit your family.

Last year I stopped eating ice cream and cooled myself with iced tea.
It cut some fat out of my diet.
Probably even some sugar since I DON'T like my tea as sweet as lots of folks do here.

Do it.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved