Many of you may have tried this tea at some point around the holidays. It’s commonly called “Russian Tea”, but for JP it was nicknamed “Christmas Tea”. Growing up, around each Thanksgiving, JP’s mom would buy the ingredients to make “Christmas Tea”. It only appeared right before Thanksgiving & disappeared right after the New Year, making this a very special cup of tea! 

With marriage came our own holiday traditions; many of which we are still figuring out! Each year has been a bit different, but Christmas Tea has become one of ours now. A week or so before Thanksgiving, JP puts together a batch of this magical holiday delight. It’s a must when doing anything Christmas-y!  JP purchases the ingredients to make “Christmas Tea” & we will have the mix just for the holidays. We drink it mostly in the evenings & always have a cup in hand when doing anything “Christmas-y”. 

One of the reasons we started the “Our Table” series was to share long-standing and memorable recipes in our family. The kitchen isn’t always clean or the tidiest (you can see that in the back of these photos for sure) but we hope that you will still enjoy following along as we share our favorite dishes & drinks! 

Cheers! The Rainsfords

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Tang (the cool orange drink you remember as a kid)
• 1/3 cup lemonade powder mix
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of instant tea (we use Liptons tea – it can be hard to find the “plain” tea without lemonade. Be careful & double check the label!)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves

Instructions:

• It doesn’t get easier than this! Put all of your ingredients into one large bowl. Stir everything so it’s evenly mixed & you’re done! Store in an air tight container.
• To serve: Simply boil water & combine with 1-2 Tbsp (depending on how strong you want your tea) of Christmas Tea mixture. Best paired with cookies & Christmas cheer 🙂