Really, there is no better place to make sun tea than 7000 feet up in the mountains of the great southwest. On a sunny day, it takes maybe three hours until all my bottles achieve that golden amber color, and are ready to bring in and store in the refrigerator. And is there anything better than cold iced tea on a hot New Mexico afternoon?
I don’t mess with pitchers or jugs. I like to have the individual bottles. They cool off faster, and the fruit pictures on the front are pretty.
I used to use the Sobe drinks for the glass bottles, but (the boneheads) went to plastic a few years ago. Fortunately, Calypso still does the nice sturdy glass bottles with good caps. And they can go right in the dishwasher when empty. I hoard them, and always know how many I have on hand (and when I have to go look in the teenager’s room for empties).
For the perfect sun tea, I like to use Tetley British Blend . Tetley has the little round tea bags, with no strings. Two bags to a bottle, no sugar.
I did try a few of the special Ice Tea Blends that are made, but the bags are too big (they call them ‘family size’) and they swell up and bust open when I remove them from the bottles. And I did not notice a difference in taste.
