Spiced Tea

With cooler weather comes LOTS of hot drinks.
They are the only way to relieve the chill in your bones.

You know my love of coffee, but I do dabble in other hot beverages on occasion (shhh....don't tell my coffeemaker.)

Spiced tea is one of those recipes that you see everywhere during the Fall.  My Momma makes her recipe every year and used to send it to me in care packages while I was away at college.  Thanks Momma!

I've been known to make my mix with all manner of spices - allspice, cloves, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and any other spice I thought might be interesting, but that gets expensive and not everyone likes cardamom in their spiced tea.  Just sayin'.

As with most recipes, I got to fiddlin' with Momma's spiced tea recipe.
This is the easiest and quickest way I know of to make this mix.  It only has 5 ingredients.

The pumpkin pie spice is a frugal alternative to buying a bunch of separate spices.

5 Ingredient Spiced Tea

1c. Instant Unsweetened Tea Granules (I used Lipton)

1c. Instant Powdered Orange Drink (I used Tang)

1c. Instant Lemonade Powder (I used Country Time)

1/2c. Sugar

2 Tbs. Pumpkin Pie Spice

Put all ingredients in a quart mason jar.  

Screw the lid on the jar and give the contents a good shaking.

To use, put 2 tablespoons of the mixture in a mug and pour over boiling water.  

Stir and enjoy!

A little note:  This is one of my favorite drinks (along with hot Jell-O) when I am ill.  I'll put powdered Vitamin C and powdered magnesium in the mug with my mix.  

Also, this recipe is a great jumping off point.  If you find you like your tea sweeter, add sugar or your choice of granulated sweetener.  Spicier, add more pumpkin pie spice or one of the above listed spices.  More tea or citrus flavor, add tea or powdered citrus drinks.  This is totally customizable. 

This is part of Full Plate Thursday and See Ya in the Gumbo.