Summer Sun Tea

One of my favorite things about summer is the iced tea!! I crave it when the weather is hot and it reminds me of when I was little and my mom would always have a jar of sun tea sitting on the wall in our back yard. Having cold iced tea always available in the fridge as an alternative to water is one of the things that simply makes the summer for me (not to mention I am not the biggest water fan and if I can encourage myself to drink more liquids in some form, that is a plus!) A few summers ago on our visit to Lake Powell my mom had made the most AWESOME sun tea and I have been making it every summer since. I do not like my tea really sweet but sometimes just plain iced tea needs a pick-me-up. I am also trying to get swimsuit ready and do not need the added calories of honey or sugar (I am very against artificial sweeteners and refuse to use them in anything but gum). So here is the awesome concoction that I came up with for my tea with a sweet twist. I have a pitcher from Pampered Chef that I LOVE and it is perfect for this function. Fill it with hot water (makes the process faster) and just put in approximately 5 bags of green tea (caffeinated or not) with 2-3 (depending on how sweet you like it) bags of Good Earth's Sweet and Spicy Herbal Tea which is naturally caffeine free. Let it steep in the hot sunshine for a few hours and then put in the refrigerator immediately. Apparently there is some controversy over how safe it is to leave the tea out for a few hours because it can grow bacteria but growing up we never had a problem and so my motto is just to make sure to put it in the fridge immediately from the hot sun. In AZ or CO the tea makes pretty fast because the sun is so intense (probably why the bacteria isn't really an issue). This tea comes out refreshing and slightly sweet without adding ANY sweeteners and I LOVE IT. Try it out and let me know what you think :o) {from the pampered chef site} {from the TAZO website} {From the Good Earth webiste}