Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Bubble Bursting: Sun Tea

making sun tea

I have made sun tea for years and always felt good about it. Using the sun's natural energy, I could make a refreshing summertime drink that tasted delicious and was practically free. Furthermore, it was crystal clear and looked lovely. All I needed, I thought, was a sunny day.

Then, somewhere, I got an inkling that I didn't actually need the sun to make sun tea. I ignored that inkling, because what fun was that? Then I visited my daughter, who remarked in passing that you don't actually need sun to make sun tea. I could not ignore this, because I never ignore my daughter.

I came home and did a bit of Internet research and confirmed that the sun was not a requirement. In fact, the article that I read suggested that tea made in the refrigerator actually tasted better.  So the sun doesn't impart any sort of cosmic goodness into the drink? Apparently not.

I was slightly disappointed to learn this but even more upset to discover that sun tea can actually be bad for you. (When you research information on the Internet, you discover all sorts of related topics, and this one, sadly kept cropping up.) According to Snopes, sun tea can harbor icky bacteria unless you jump through all sorts of hoops first. That sort of takes the romance out of making sun tea.

So for now on, I'll make mine in the refrigerator. I just need to come up with a good name for it--a romantic name that speaks to my love of summer.

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