To my knowledge, I do not have any Russian blood in me. But every Christmas I spent as a child I can remember smelling and drinking Russian Tea. My mother used to say that it could cure anything and I believe she’s right. I have been horribly sick since way before Christmas and am just now starting to feel a little better…partly because I have just started drinking my Russian tea every day. You can make a big jug of this, store it in the fridge, and it will be there for you whenever you need it to be. Drinking it makes me completely happy and brings me right back to being a kid on Christmas Eve. There are many versions of this tea out there but I assure you, my mother’s recipe is the best.
*Mama’s Russian Tea
(makes roughly 1/2-3/4 gallon)
-Steep 2 large black tea bags (or 8 standard 1cup bags) in 8 cups boiling water on the stovetop in a large pot for 5 minutes.
-Discard bags and add in 4 TB ‘redhots’ candies (‘hot tamales’ can be substituted if you can’t find ‘redhots’ but they’re a little bit harder to dissolve), 1 1/2 cups sugar, the juice of 1 lemon, 1 large can of orange juice concentrate and then fill up that OJ can with water and add it in 2-3 times (taste after 2 cans and add 1 more if necessary).
-Stir to combine and allow the candies to melt and the oj to break down.
-When everything has fully combined and the mixture is hot, you’re done!
-Store any unused tea in a large jug or pitcher in the fridge for several days.
2 Comments
I haven't commented in a bit (although I have read every post!) since I've been under the weather, too. I am going to make this right away–well, maybe early in the new year. It might just do the trick! I'm glad you're on the road to recovery……
I hope you're feeling better and if you tried the tea, I hope it helped!