“Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the Earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!” – Sitting Bull, 1875

I’d first like to say Hail Ostara! the Equinox of Spring. Blessings dear friends. For Pagans and Witches (and everyone really 🙂 ) this is the time to start planting dreams and goals we want to see grow throughout the light half of the year so that they may come to fruition when the Harvest season comes once more. It’s also time to start the Spring garden and nothing is more refreshing after a day working in the garden than a glass of homemade Sun Tea.

It is said that drinking water charged with sunlight has many positive benefits including enhanced energy, repairing cellular level damage; it’s anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. It’s also said to aid in healing skin allergies, rashes and healing the digestive system.

The Ostara festival is the perfect occasion to make Sun Tea to usher in the light half of the year so join me in the garden for the recipe. This is a fun one to make with children as they will delight in watching the tea steep in the sunshine and excitedly anticipate tasting it later.

You Will Need: (makes 8 cups)

8 Black Tea bags (can be decaf for children) I used Orange Pekoe

3 Lemons

Sugar 1/4 cup per jar

Ice cubes

Fresh Mint or other garnishes (berries are wonderful for natural flavour)

8 cups Filtered or Distilled water

Two 2 pint glass jars (4 cups each)

*For reference, you will want to use 1 tea bag per cup of water.

 To Make: 

To a 2 pint jar add 4 tea bags and top with 4 cups of filtered or distilled water.   I made 2 jars, so double this.

You can add a few sprigs of fresh mint if you have any (I grow mint in my garden and indoors all year). 

Fasten the lid tightly and place your jar(s) in the sun making sure the spot you’ve chosen will have direct sunlight for at least 3 or 4 hours. 

Starting to take on a beautiful bright orange colour because of the Pekoe tea I used.

Once the tea has steeped to your liking, add the juice of a whole lemon to each jar.

Side note:  Don’t use bottled lemon juice as most are pasteurized and lose their nutrients after being heated during processing. 

 

Sweeten the tea now by adding a 1/4 cup of sugar to each jar and stir.

Chill your Sun Tea in the fridge for an hour or serve immediately over ice. Garnished with a slice of lemon and fresh mint sprigs.

Cheers to the first day of Spring!.  May the season bring you light, love and good health. 

Thank you for joining me today. If you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog and join me over on Instagram @ BellWitchManor

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Love,

Jennifer