My mom made this tea all the time. We used to call it Russian Tea. I used one packet of orange and one packet of lemon Kool-Aid along with two cups of sugar in place of the pre-sweetened drink mixes. Tastes good at a fraction of the cost.
This has become one of my favorite tea recipes. It's best around the holidays, but I've been making it year round as well. I usually add a small package of either apricot or peach gelatin to the mix along with a box of red hot candies. Definitely gift giving material. Thanks Julie.
Three out of my four children loved this tea. I thought it was great for a change!! I made a large batch of tea mix and made a batch in my crock pot for New Years. Crock pot kept it warm and ready for everyone to enjoy!!! Great crowd pleaser.
This is an excellent recipe. This is very similar to Russian Tea. To cut down on costs I sub a package of Kool Aid plus sugar instead of the sweetened Kool Aid. For the poster that had trouble getting hers to dissolve, you can place the instant tea powder in a blender or food processor to grind it finer. This is great for gifts. Thank you for the post.
This is so good! I was disappointed when I packaged it all up into jars to give away as gifts and had none left. I couldn't find plain instant tea powder only sweetened lemon flavored tea powder so I used less lemonade powder. It was still delicious and not overly sweet like one would think.
This is excellent. I changed it a little bit (thanks EEASERI!): ½ cup instant tea powder, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1 package of unsweetened Lemonade Kool-Aid, 1 package of unsweetened Orange Kool-Aid, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon cloves. And I ground it up in the blender. This is awesome. I expected to need to add more sugar as I tend to like my tea a little sweeter, but it is really good as is. Next time, I think I'll try the much-recommended addition of Red Hots. The nice thing is that extra sugar can be added to the mug after stirring in the tea mix if desired. Thanks for sharing, Julie!
I made a huge batch last night to give as a hostess present and some friends. It was easy to prepare. I put in some decorative jars tied with ribbon and a little hang tag explaining what it was and how to prepare. They went over well this morning. I did try some last night and I didn't think it was sweet enough for my taste but everyone can adjust to their liking. Used generic Walmart brand ingredients.
We've given this as Christmas gifts for years and we get requests for refills all the time. Kick it up a notch by adding red hot candies. Takes a little longer to brew but adds a kick.
The taste is good - but I can't get the Tea to dissolve! I have mixed it with hot water from a coffee pot and with boiling water - and I still end up with instant tea in the bottom of my cup. I used to drink tea like this at my MOPS meetings and I never had issues with the tea not dissolving.
I tried this for the holidays and I used Nestea. One suggestion that I would make is NOT to grind the tea because it turns in a flour like consistancy and makes the tea taste too strong and the other flavors don't come through. I will try this again without grinding the tea.
