Russian Tea Time

While in college and living like a bohemian with no money, all of my arty friends and I used to hang out at a little restaurant/tea room in Kalamazoo called The Troubador. It was on a small street behind the East campus of Western Michigan University and I think only neighborhood people knew about it. For a year or so, I lived a block away. We could have Russian Tea for super cheap. Dinner there was a treat, if we could afford it. Believe it or not, the pic above is the actual room the tea room was in. It was decorated like I imagined gypsies would have done it, dark with lamps and scarves. It is now a different restaurant.

Since then, I have made a batch of Russian Tea every winter. I am not sure if I really love it or just really love the memories it evokes. It will put you in a sugar coma if you drink much of it.

I start with:

2C instant tea

2C Tang (yeah, hysterical)

2C sugar

2 pkg lemonade mix

add a couple teaspoons each of ground cloves and cinnamon

I usually add more tea, and add extra of whatever seems to make it taste right.

Drinking it pulls me right back to the upstairs of that building on Vine Street...and makes me feel like an astronaut.

If you don't understand that, you are too young,

Normal Girl