russian tea

Tea For You

Back in my day (really, the 1970s), tea was born from a jar. There were no fancy tea shops, Starbucks or the like to stylishly tantalize the tea-lovin’ taste buds.

I still remember the “clang-clink-clang” made by the stainless teaspoon as I scooped the tea mix from the Kiker household staple – the Lipton tea jar. I’d drop a couple of spoonfuls into mom’s plastic strawberry iced tea glasses, add tap water, stir, then fill with some ice cubes. Mom would add a sliced lemon if we were going gourmet all the way, like for the Thanksgiving feast.

While we’re on the topic of ice cubes, one of my childhood chores (yes, Laura Ingalls wasn’t the only one with them), was to keep the ice cube trays full. Why? Well, modern conveniences like automatic ice makers didn’t exist in most homes so I had to make ice the old-fashioned way. Magic!

Tea. Simple and refreshing. Let’s “jooj” it up a bit with Mom’s recipe for Russian Tea.

Два чая, пожалуйста
(two teas, please)

i. ingredients

1 cup | instant tea powder (unflavored)
2 cups | orange instant breakfast drink
3 ounces | imitation lemonade mix
1½ cups | sugar
½ teaspoon | ground cloves
½ teaspoon | ground cinnamon

ii. what to do

1. Mix all of dry ingredients together. Store in a tightly sealed glass jar.

2. When ready to serve, add 2 slightly rounded teaspoonfuls of the drink mix into your cup of choice.

3. Add boiling water.

Makes: 1 quart

Foodie Tips ~

♥ The dry mix makes a great gift ~ especially during the chilly holidays! Place the powdery mixture into a glass jar, wrap with ribbon and gift away.
♥ This tea is also good served over ice.
♥ Who doesn’t like sliced lemon with their tea?
♥ Make sure and check out the recipes below; the bottom two were donated by my super-cousin Alison-Sutton-Bergin. All I can say is… “Gig That!” The recipes are slightly different from mom’s and that’s inspiration to try something new. The top “spiced tea” recipe is from Debbie (Alison’s mom)… and the bottom recipe “instant russian tea” is penned by Alison’s dad, Bill(y).

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