Today is Alaska Day! If you’ve followed this blog through the past year, you may have sensed a certain obsession on my part when it comes to Russian Tea, a traditional drink in my family that we enjoy most often around this state holiday. In my last post on the subject, I talked about my search for an “authentic” recipe, one that didn’t rely, as we do now, on modern drink mixes. Aly found one recently, pretty much right under our very noses.
Aly volunteers each week at the local Sheldon Museum. Recently she found a very simple, direct, old-fashioned Russian Tea recipe on a display placard in the museum. Here it is, as she recalls it:
“Brew a pot of black tea with a stick of cinnamon and a few whole cloves. To each cup or mug, add one spoonful of marmalade, and one spoonful of honey.”
Simple, no? To that, I would of course add a generous dollop of rum, as instructed by one who knew how it should be done.
We tried it the other day. I’m not a big tea fan, and the tea flavor shines through quite well, perhaps too much for my taste. Having tried it, I’m happy to go back to the prepared mix version, but at least now we know.