Summer is ice tea time, but when the heat wave a couple weeks ago brought temperatures in the 90's, I wasn't about to fire up the stove (especially since our single, dinky window AC unit doesn't exactly make it back to the kitchen).  

Perks of sun tea:

• utilizes the renewable (also read: free) energy of the sun
• steeping at lower temperatures results in a more mellow flavor and avoids the more biting tones that can result from using boiling water
• and. . . it's kind of fun

Cons:

• you have to be patient (it usually takes aout 3-5 hours to steep)
• since you don't use boiling water your tea won't stay good as long, but use within a day or two and you'll be golden

I picked this glass jar up at World Market for less than ten bucks, and used 2 family-sized Lipton's ice tea bags. I also threw in a few leaves from my mint plant. 3 hours later. . .