A New Spice

I love Russian Spice Tea (or is it "spiced"?), you know the totally American concoction featuring Tang, instant iced tea powder, lemonade powder, sugar, ground cloves, and cinnamon. I can smell it, taste it, even see the funky brown-orange color of the powder and the sludge of undissolved spices in an emptied cup, even though it's been years since I've had some.

And I'm craving it. Except without all those highly processed ingredients.

So, I've begun an experiment: real, natural, non-instant, Russian Spice Tea. Totally unlike but very similar to the one Mom used to make.

Thus far I have:

2 cups water

2 bags Constant Comment tea (wish I had one Lemon Zinger or Lemon Lift)

1 cinnamon stick

5 cloves

1 tablespoon sugar

Combine, bring to boil, remove from heat, steep.

. . . and it tastes nothing like it whatsoever. I'll have to keep trying. Maybe lemon and orange zest? Orange juice? More of the spices? Ground instead of whole? Black tea? Honey instead of sugar? More sugar?

Is this even based on a real Russian tea? If so, I haven't found it yet . . . . but I'm going to keep trying.

Until then, the "real" recipe is below.

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Russian Spice Tea

1 cup instant tea (lemon-flavored, optional)

1 cup powdered lemonade

1 cup Tang

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

If pre-sweetened ingredients are used, no additional sugar is needed. If not, add 1 cup sugar. Store in sealed container. Use a few teaspoons per cup of boiling water. Adjust to taste.

Gommie Hungry