The very first time I made sun brewed tea, photoed above, in Detroit Michigan. Check out that messed up old windowsill!
Our englishman friend drinks surprisingly little tea here in Mexico, despite the stereotype that the British don't do well without teatime. When we asked him why, he went on a sort of british rant. Due to differences in teas and water and other factors as well, he determined (probably through past experiences travelling abroad) that a good cup of tea, or what he expects it to be, is really not easily obtained abroad. He even said it's not even always easily obtained in Britain, and that the British are very picky on tea. I immediately thought to teach him how to make tea my way, the sun brewed tea. For many in the United States, the taste of sun brewed tea means summer.
I actually had never even heard of the concept until I was an adult. I went outside of a house I was living in to check my garden, to notice a giant glass jar filled with water with tea bags floating in it. It was sitting in direct sun, and appeared to be my neighbors as I watched him come out to retrieve it later. A day or so later, when we were over there smoking with him he shared some with us and I was surprised. He gave it to me unsweetened and I wasn't totally grossed out. Usually I'm someone who prefers my tea sweet but this wasn't bad. I decided to try it but it honestly was a few years before I did.
The first time I made sun brewed tea was in Detroit. John had dumpster dived me some giant glass jars, all I could think was sun brewed tea. I acquired some cheap black tea and made it happen, setting the jars on the window sills of the house we lived in. By 4pm the jars contained a warm dark brown liquid, signifying they were finished. I added a bunch of sugar to a smaller jar, added some tea and shook it up. It was the best sweet tea I had until that point. I took it to a party at the Detroit Anarchists Park across the street later and shared it with everyone, comforting a few southern community members.
All you really need in terms of ingredients for this tea is the tea itself and good quality drinking water. You'll need a large glass jar, the one I have we got here for 350 pesos, or between 15-20 dollars USD. It has a spout that makes serving the tea convenient, that and it's giant.
I use about 6 bags for my jar, which is about 2-2.5 gallons in capacity. How much tea you use is dependant on how strong you like your tea. You can do this fairly strong as the bitter black tea flavor doesn't necessarily come through in sun brewed tea. The temperature stays so low that you get good tea, without a strong bitter flavor. This makes it easy to drink without sugar. All you do though, is put the bags in the jar, obviously without the wrapper. Fill that jar with water and set it in direct sun.
Almost immediately you'll notice streams of black as the tea starts to steep. As the tea gets darker, the sun heats it more which continues the brewing process.
Just leave the jar in the sun for hours, move it if it ends up in the shade.
Here it darkens, getting closer to being finished.
How dark you go depends on your tastes, there's no such thing as too dark with this method.
Here's when we considered the tea finished. The last step is to squeeze out and remove the tea bags. It's best chilled and sweetened in my opinion. A mix of honey and sugar is great, but either is great on their own. You can add lemon, lime, strawberry. The options are endless as it's a plain, versatile tea.
I sold a bit of the tea to a friend at the last pizza party. He evidently enjoyed it because he had at least two cups. He mentioned that it either reminded him of childhood, or home. Regardless of what he said specifically, the message was the same. He really enjoyed the tea. And so did I, as I drank several glasses myself. The englishman held off, partially because he was drinking some beer and partially out of apprehension.
Apparently fights break out in Britain over badly made tea. We chilled a glass and had him try it. He replied that it was not his cup of tea. Considering he tried it without sweetening, and with the expectations of a cup of English Breakfast tea, it wasn't going to stand up. I intend to make it again and to have him try it a little sweetener and with the understanding that this is different. There's similarities, but the difference is great and it should be treated as a different drink. But no fights were caused and no hard feelings were had, an englishman is stuck in his ways about his tea. What else would one expect to happen? Maybe with a new batch and an open mind, we can change his views on this tricky subject.