This orangey spiced tea mix made with Tang, cinnamon, sugar, and cloves, also called Friendship Tea, always reminds me of the holidays. Give a gift of this spiced tea mix this holiday season!
Growing up in the 70s and early 80s, we made a lot of homemade gifts for giving friends and neighbors around the holidays. My mom and many other families during that time would make this iconic spiced tea mix made with instant lemon tea mix, Tang, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. I LOVED getting a cup of this steaming tea!
With just a few inexpensive, simple ingredients, you'll have many homemade gifts to give out anytime!

Spiced Tea Mix
This orangey spiced tea mix made with Tang, cinnamon, sugar, and cloves, also called Friendship Tea, always reminds me of the holidays. Give a gift of this spiced tea mix this holiday season!
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsweetened instant iced tea
- 1 cup Tang orange drink mix
- ½ cup sweetened lemonade powder (like Country Time)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
Spiced Team Mix Instructions
In a large bowl, combine instant tea, Tang mix, lemonade mix, and spices; whisk to combine.
Pour the spiced tea mix into a blender or food processor and blend until the tea mix becomes a fine powder.
Store the spiced tea mix in a 16 ounce mason jar or other sealed container. You can easily double or triple this recipe for gift giving.
Hot Spiced Tea Serving Instructions
Mix 2-3 teaspoons of the spiced tea mix into 8 ounces of boiling water. Adjust the amount of mix according to taste.
Stir well and enjoy.
Notes
Keep in an airtight container. You may also divide it into small jars with lids for gift-giving!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
2 tablespoonsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 69Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 8mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 0gSugar: 16gProtein: 0g
Jennifer,
unfortunately, I have no one left to ask the questions I have about my family’s recipe for instant Russian tea, which isn’t very specific, but I want to try to get right so it tastes the way my husband and his father remember it, but with family cookboook recipes listing ingredients such as: “lemonade mix packet” without listing the specific size or brand left me thinking I’d have a much harder time finding the ingredients the recipe was created with three or more generations ago, especially since there’s a much larger selection of instant drinks and water enhancers, flavors, sweeteners, and sizes than there were when my family’s recipe was created. typing in lemonade mix into the whole foods website didn’t render much, but doing so on amazon’s was just the opposite, so I came looking for some insight for how I could continue a family tradition since I figure our recipe for instant russian tea is quite similar to many other family recipes for it. I also thought it would be nice to include the nutrition facts on the canisters when I give them as gifts. I also thought I’d make a zero calorie version with a natural sweetener alternative, but I noticed the nutrition facts you have listed say zero sugar, but I thought the standard Tang & Country Time Lemonade came sweetened with sugar, so I’m not so sure your nutrition facts are accurate or not, so I thought it would be great if you could take a look and maybe you could update the nutrition facts if you find there’sa mistake?
thank you for your time and for sharing this timeless recipe with more specific details than my family left me.
be blessed and merry Christmas!
Hi Naomi! Thank you so much for stopping by! Yes I will look into those nutrition facts right away and get them updated.