Apparently, no one makes sun tea anymore. When I was a kid, it seemed like there was always a gallon jug sitting on the railing of our back deck with tea bags steeping in the hot summer sun. And not just our back deck, our next-door neighbor always had one, too. I never liked tea, so sun tea isn’t a warm childhood memory for me, just a fixture like the sofa, or my mom’s collection of Hummels. It was just there.

So, when I went to the store today to buy tea to make my own sun tea, I was surprised to find that there wasn’t much of a selection. They had decaffeinated iced tea, and they had “cold infusion” black tea, and a case of 24 iced tea bags that made a gallon each. Seeing as I wasn’t even sure if I would like sun tea, I didn’t want to commit to two-dozen gallons of it.

I ended up buying a cold infusion tea, but when I got home, I read the instructions that said that it takes five minutes to steep in cool water. How over-steeped would it get if I left it outside in the sun for two hours? So, I opted for some black tea that we had in the cupboard. When my parents moved to Tucson seven years ago, they gave us a bunch of tea and other things they couldn’t store, and I think that’s where this tea came from. I’m sure it’s fine.