The best southern sun tea I've ever made

Usually, I'm not a big tea person in general. I don't like hot tea and there are some exceptions to tea that I find acceptable, like southern sun tea. However, when I make sun tea, I make sweet tea, like most southern tea I've tasted. Many people think that making sun tea is as easy as filling a pitcher full of water and a few tea bags. Uh-uh. Nope. That's not the way to do it. I have tried making sun tea several hundreds of times and I have found (for me-- at least) the perfect way to make southern sun tea.

First, I have to say that I love my tea jar. I love that it looks very 1970s vintage with it's orange, yellow, and green. I have this weird thing about "it's so ugly it's cute." And my tea pitcher qualifies. In every day happenstance, I would NEVER purchase something like this because my kitchen is butterfly and candy themed, as you can kind of see by my cast iron gingerbread cookie mold in the background. Anyways, I digress. Onward to the tea making. 

1. Get your water as hot as possible. It isn't necessary to boil it, but you do want it as hot as possible from the tap. 
2. Dissolve 1 cup sugar into your hot water. You want your tea to already be tea as soon as you set it out in the sun to steep. This will make your tea taste sweet but not so sugary that you feel your teeth rotting out of your head. Stir your sugar into the hot water until your water is no longer grainy looking. It might still look a bit cloudy, but that is fine. 
3. Open up 7 tea bags and dunk them into your sugar water. It might take a bit for them to finally sink into the water, but they will once they are soaked. I use Lipton tea because I prefer a brand I trust to consistently taste the same every time. I have tried making sun tea with fewer tea bags but it tastes too weak-- 7 is my magic number. 
4. Lastly, set your tea out in the yard. You don't have to have sun, even in cloudy weather you can have good sun tea, the sun just makes your tea warmer and steep quicker. Regardless of clouds, sunshine, rain, I leave mine out all day. It makes a nice strong tea flavor with just enough sweetness to make me happy. 

How do you make your tea? Is there a fantastic tip that I'm completely missing? Share with me!