Essence Waters and Sun Tea: Honoring the Power of the Sun

This morning I started a bottle of black Ceylon sun tea infused with raspberry flower water

Don’t ever ask me what I love about summer, because you’ll never get away. Right now, as we enter June, is a time of rebirth. Everything I love begins rising and blossoming now.

Essence waters and sun tea are two of the summer things I love. In summer, there is no other way to make essence water or tea than to brew it in the blessed sun. Aside from the fact that it’s insanely easy, they have a flavor – and reported properties – that boiled water mixtures can’t compete with.

For sun tea, just take your tea of choice – my favorites are Tazo Hibiscus and organic black Ceylon – place in a large, clean, clear glass bottle with spring water, cap it, place it in the sun in the morning, and at the end of the day, strain and sweeten with your sweetener of choice, or don’t sweeten at all. Then refrigerate. The sun tea I’m making today has been infused with raspberry flower water.

Commercial essence waters are really popular now, and really pricey. I’ve seen essence waters at higher-end markets priced at $4 a bottle. This is completely crazy. Essence water is just water infused with an herbal or fruit flavor. The commercial products leave lots to be desired – namely, the quality of the water used, and the ‘natural’ flavorings added. And if it’s packaged in a plastic bottle, forget it.

For essence water, start with the same clean glass jar with fresh water (I use spring water, never tap), and add your flavoring. Among the many infusions I’ve made are cucumber, pineapple and mint, lemon balm, basil, lemon verbena, lemon peel, lime peel, and pineapple sage. For essence waters, I’ve found that just about 4-6 hours in full sun is enough brew time before straining and refrigerating. When you use fruit or vegetables for essence water, the best thing is to drink it all the next day. Sun tea will keep fresh for a few days in the fridge.

The sun’s radiation charges the water, and that natural magic makes sun tea infinitely superior to boiled water tea, and homemade, sun-brewed essence water far better and healthier than the insanely overpriced commercial essence waters.

And if you’re lucky enough to have a solar oven, you can make both sun tea and essence water all year round, as long as the sun is shining. The sun is amazing.

Live in peace.