I've been experimenting with different sun teas this summer. The yummiest so far was the lemon balm/green tea concoction pictured here. We have way too much lemon balm growing all over, so I can ruthlessly harvest it for sun tea. It is a plant in the mint family so it spreads really easily. It is a nice looking plant so I don't mind it too much, and it sure smells good when you mow it. Anyways I took about 10 stems worth, stripped the leaves, mashed them up to get the essential oils activated, well, squished in my hands really, added water and four green tea bags. Stuck in the sun for several hours, and presto-chango-rearrango, a refreshing beverage. I strained it into a pitcher that got put into the refrigerator.
No sugar needed, just add ice. It disappeared within a day.
I'm planning on making this combo again and adding it half and half to lemonade.
And oh dear, I was looking for a link to post for ideas on making sun teas and found on Snopes.com that it is actually a really bad idea due to bacteria growing in the sun heated water. Not hot enough to kill the bacteria. Yikes and Hmmmm! May have to resort to refrigerator tea.
Julie! I didn't know you were back -- missed you at Buffy night! About sun tea. The sun isn't needed at all. I make bottle tea almost every day just by plunking the stuff in a jar and letting it sit for a few hours at room temp in the kitchen (not in the sun). On the other hand, the sun does seem to add nice energy, and frankly, most people I know have been drinking sun tea for years with no problems. Bacteria probably toughens you up! :-)
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