Sugar Free Russian Tea

I don't know why this is called Russian Tea, but we've been making it since I was a teenager.  Someone, somewhere, came up with this delicious mix and it ran like wildfire through our Birmingham community in the late 1960s.  There are many versions of it on the internet, but I remember my old recipe card.  It was spotted with drops of who knows what and I always brought it out when it got cold outside.  Those of who sang, always drank it religiously, to keep our throats warm.  I gave it as gifts and everyone who received it was delighted!

The original recipe used Tang (full of sugar) and 2 cups of sugar, a lemonade kool aid packet, ground cloves, cinnamon and a jar of instant tea.  You mixed it all together and Voila, the coziest cup of tea you ever drank.  Now, however, we are all watching our sugar intake and use the even worse for us, sugar substitutes.  And, every year, the ingredients keep changing a bit because packaging is smaller and smaller.  When I first started making it, I could use instant tea, no lemon, no sugar or sugar substitute and then I could monitor how much substitute and what kind went into the mix. Now, I have to use tea mix with lemon and aspartame (yuk) AND an orange drink mix with more aspartame.  Luckily the rest of the ingredients don't have sugar substitute so maybe it's not that bad.  Whatever it is, don't drink a lot of it, or you'll spend your day/evening on the johnny..hahaha.  Here's the 2019 recipe:

1 jar Diet Lipton Decaffeinated iced tea mix with lemon
1 box Crystal Light Classic Orange drink tubes (these are the ones for a 16.5 oz bottle of water)
1 Kool-Aid Lemonade packet (the unsweetened kind)
4 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp ground cloves

JUST A NOTE about Orange Drink mixes-do not use a store brand.  They just don't have enough orange flavor.  I think you COULD probably use the larger tubes of Crystal Light (maybe 2 of them), but I couldn't find any in my community.

That's it!  Mix it well together and store it in an airtight container.  I just use the jar the tea came in.  To serve, mix a heaping teaspoon with about 12 oz (1 mug) of hot water.  Yummmmmm! Enjoy!