Sun Tea Recipe: How to Safely Brew Shillong Strawberry Iced Tea in the Sun
The Slow, Sunlit Way to Make Iced Tea
There is a particular kind of afternoon, somewhere between 2 and 5 pm, when the light turns thick and gold and nobody wants to stand over a stove. That is the afternoon sun tea was built for. Set a glass jar on the windowsill in the morning, forget about it while you get on with your day, and come back to a jug of pale amber tea that tastes softer and rounder than anything brewed with boiling water.
Sun tea is one of the oldest iced tea methods there is, older than the electric kettle, older than the refrigerator. It is also, if you are not careful, one of the easiest ways to end up with a jar of bacteria soup instead of a drink. This guide walks through how to make sun tea properly: safely, with the right timing, and with a fruit-forward Tealayas blend that was practically made for a porch and a summer afternoon.
Before iced tea came in bottles or from a machine, families across warm climates set jars of tea in the sun because it was simply the easiest way to brew a large batch without heating up an already hot kitchen. The method survived for generations for a good reason: it works, and it tastes noticeably different from tea brewed on the stove. What has changed is how much we now understand about food safety, which is why the steps below matter as much as the sunshine does.
The version below uses Tealayas Shillong Strawberry Iced Tea, a blend built from real dried strawberries and single-origin tea, already lightly sweetened with stevia. It was practically designed for this method: the fruit needs gentle heat to open up, not a rolling boil, and sunlight gives it exactly that.
What You Need
- 1 gallon (about 3.75 litres) clean glass jar with a lid, sanitized in hot soapy water
- 8 tbsp Tealayas Shillong Strawberry Iced Tea (loose leaf, using the steel infuser included with your order, or a large muslin bag)
- 3.5 litres filtered water, room temperature
- Ice, for serving
- Fresh strawberry slices and mint leaves, for garnish (optional)
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Sanitize your jar
Wash the jar in hot, soapy water and rinse well. This matters more for sun tea than for any other brewing method, since the jar will sit at warm room temperature for hours, which is exactly the environment bacteria like.
2. Load the leaves
Fill the steel infuser with 8 tbsp of Tealayas Shillong Strawberry Iced Tea and lower it into the jar. If you are using loose leaf without an infuser, you can strain the tea through a fine mesh sieve once brewing is done.
3. Add water and find your sun spot
Fill the jar with room temperature filtered water, seal the lid, and set it somewhere it will get direct sun for the next few hours: a windowsill, a balcony ledge, a garden table.
4. Brew for 3 to 4 hours, no longer
Check the tea after 3 hours. It should be a warm amber color and taste rounded, not watery. Do not let it go past 4 hours. Sun tea only reaches about 130°F (54°C) even on a hot day, which is warm enough for bacteria to multiply but nowhere near hot enough to kill them off, so time matters more than temperature here.
5. Refrigerate immediately
Remove the infuser, transfer the tea to the fridge, and chill for at least an hour before serving. Drink it within 24 hours. Do not leave the finished tea sitting out at room temperature.
6. Serve
Pour over a full glass of ice, top with a few strawberry slices and a mint leaf, and serve immediately.
Two Ways to Riff on This Recipe
Make it a mocktail
Muddle two fresh strawberries in the bottom of a glass, add ice, pour the finished sun tea over the top, and finish with a splash of soda water and a squeeze of lime. The fizz and the fruit turn a simple glass of tea into something you would happily serve guests.
Batch it for the week
Sun tea does not keep well past a day at room temperature, but the chilled, strained tea freezes beautifully in ice cube trays. Brew a batch, freeze half as tea cubes, and use them to keep your next glass of iced tea from watering down as it melts.
Why This Works
Heat is what pulls tannins out of tea leaves, and tannins are what make hot-brewed iced tea taste bitter or astringent once it cools. Sun tea sidesteps this almost entirely. The gentle warmth from the sun (nowhere near boiling) draws out flavor and color slowly, without aggressively extracting the compounds that read as harsh. That is why sun-brewed tea tends to taste rounder and softer than tea made by pouring boiling water over leaves and letting it cool. The fruit pieces in Shillong Strawberry Iced Tea benefit from this slow, low heat method too: gentle warmth coaxes out their natural sweetness without cooking off the brighter, fresher notes the way a full boil can.
Brewing Tips and Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Leaving the jar out longer than 4 hours "to get it stronger" | Use more tea per litre instead of more time. Extra time adds bacterial risk, not flavor. |
| Using a cloudy or scratched plastic jar | Stick to glass. It sanitizes cleanly and does not hold onto old flavors or bacteria in surface scratches. |
| Forgetting the tea outside overnight | Set a timer. Sun tea left out overnight should be discarded, not saved. |
| Serving it warm, straight from the jar | Always chill for at least an hour first. The flavor settles and rounds out in the fridge. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is sun tea actually safe to drink?
Yes, as long as you follow food safety basics: a sanitized glass jar, a brew time capped at 3 to 4 hours, and immediate refrigeration once it is done. The risk comes from letting tea sit at warm room temperature for too long, not from the sun itself.
Can I use any Tealayas blend for sun tea?
Shillong Strawberry works especially well because the fruit pieces open up gently in indirect warmth, but Lucknow Mango and Doon Litchi Peach are also excellent candidates. We would steer away from Landour Chocolate for this method, since its cocoa notes are better drawn out with a fuller cold brew steep.
How is sun tea different from cold brew iced tea?
Cold brew steeps in the refrigerator over several hours using only cold water, with no heat at all. Sun tea uses the mild warmth of direct sunlight to speed up extraction slightly while staying well below boiling. Both avoid the bitterness of hot-brewed tea; sun tea just gets there a little faster, with a bit more hands-on food safety care required.
What if it is cloudy or rainy outside?
Sun tea needs direct sunlight to work properly. On a cloudy day, brew Shillong Strawberry as a cold brew in the fridge instead: use the same 8 tbsp to 3.5 litre ratio and steep for 6 to 8 hours.
Can I sweeten sun tea?
Shillong Strawberry Iced Tea is already lightly sweetened with stevia, so most people drink it as is. If you want it sweeter, stir in a little honey or simple syrup after brewing, while the tea is still warm, so it dissolves fully.
Does sun tea have less caffeine than hot-brewed tea?
Generally, yes, though the difference is modest. Lower, slower heat draws out somewhat less caffeine than a full boil, so a jar of sun tea tends to be gentler than a strong hot-brewed cup, though not caffeine-free. If you want a genuinely low-caffeine option, Manali Mint Iced Tea is a good place to start, since mint and lemongrass make up more of its flavor profile.
Ready to try it yourself? Shop Tealayas Shillong Strawberry Iced Tea and get a free steel infuser with your order, everything you need to brew a proper jar of sun tea this week.