Classic Alaskan Russian Tea Mix Recipe

Russian tea mix, tea and cookies

I asked my daughter where we should stage this photo. She really loves this rock in our yard for photos for how much sun is in that area.

There are a lot of lasting influences of Russian colonization in Alaska. One of them is an enjoyment of hot fruity teas.

One of the most popular Russian teas is to add jam made from berries collected over the fall to brewed black tea.

The most popular though, hands down, is made with various drink mixes and spices and used as an instant tea.

My mother was a jam in tea sort, so the first time I had the drink mix kind was in summer camp as child. I loved it and came home with the recipe. My mother, the hippie, was absolutely appalled. The only other time I saw her that shocked over my tastes was when I came home from a slumber party insisting the other young woman's mother had made the best mac and cheese ever. Mom called for the recipe and found out it was Kraft.

Anyway, this is my recipe. It's less sweet and more tea then a lot of the mix recipes. I hope you enjoy it.

American measurements used. The parenthesis are the product I used and link to Amazon**.

Russian Tea Mix Recipe

• 1 cup instant tea (Lipton, unsweetened, unflavored, decaffeinated)
• 2 cups sweetened orange drink mix (Tang)
• 1 packet *unsweetened* lemonade mix (Kool-Aid)
• 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground cloves

Mix ingredients well, put into a pretty jar.

To mix, start with 3 Tbsp of mix. My coffee cups are mostly 10 oz. Put in the mix, top with hot or boiling water. Let cool enough to taste, add more mix or sugar

to taste.

As a gift, include a note with mixing instructions.

I do plan to re-do this post later with pretty  printable recipes and tags.

There are stories about this kind of tea being served to musher's on the Iditarod trail. Tang is so popular that to make a recipe that was actually measured out and not just me doing it by eye meant going to 3 stores and finding the one can left on the shelf in the back of the shelf at the last store.

As an adult, I prefer jam in tea, but TG and William both really like this version for it's convenience.

**this post contains Amazon affliate links which pay me a small commission when you use them to make purchases. **