Russian tea and the Zambian Baboon!

OK I don't know why this tea is called "Russian" tea but whatever the name I LOVE IT! I don't even know if they have this kind of tea in Russia but where ever it is from it is Delicious! My mom used to make this tea mix and have it in a empty Tang Container. It would travel with us anytime we went camping and in the morning mom would heat water over the fire or stove and we would put a few scoops of it in our hot water, stir and enjoy. SO simple. And the flavor.....YUM is all I can say. Until that dreadful day when Keith Kaden and I went home to visit mom and dad. We went camping at the Flat Dogs camp in South Luwangwa. It is a beautiful spot on the side of the river where hippos, giraffes, elephants and of course monkeys and baboons visit camp through out the day. You have to be careful with the last 2 animals because they will get into your tent, luggage or food supply and cause a slight disaster. Ask mom, she has a funny story about the baboons making tea in the toilet! But on this particular trip we were awoken every morning with the monkeys bouncing on our tent. It is at moments like that, that make me glad dad always invests in the HEAVY DUTY tents! If not we would have been crawling out of a collapsed tent every morning. You could usually hear the baboons  coming through the camp because other campers would be yelling at them to "GET AWAY!" "GO" "CHOKA(translates to GO AWAY). When you hear this going on in Camp you start looking for things that they could snatch and you start cleaning up and prepare to start throwing rocks or sticks at them to encourage them to continue on their journey. They like to steal anything that interests them, like sweet potatoes cooking on a fire, tortillas sitting on the table or even apples right out of your 2 year old hand. Let it be known that is the ONLY memory Kaden remembers about that trip, the day the baboons stole his apple. It still makes him sad and makes me giggle because he was so amazed at the troop running through camp he was not expecting them to steal a cute little boys apple right out of his hand.  Along with all this stuff that they stole they grabbed a white canister that we could not see well. So the chase began. Mom, Keith and I chased after this one baboon that was making off with that container, while Dad and Kaden stayed in camp to scare the rest of the baboons off. We ran through brush, dodged trees, ran around termite mounds. He climbed trees, bit into the container and then would continue on the chase. This was a very cheeky baboon! And VERY FAST!!! After a long chase the baboon eventually lost interest or got tired of being chased and dropped the container. It was then we realized what he stole.... OUR RUSSIAN TEA!! That Cheeky baboon stole and ate all of our Russian tea! He must be apart of the Russian Mafia! SO SAD, SO TRAGIC! And mom had just made that batch up for camping! How would I keep up my morning tradition of having a cup! So instead of having a little bit of Christmas in a cup, I would be empty handed! And I am serious about the whole Christmas in a cup thing. It does smell and taste like Christmas in a cup, thus the reason I really LOVE it! I love to make this mix up and have it at Christmas time. Living in Alaska it is even better to have on hand for those cold winter nights. We have a long winter..... 8 months of it. And drinking hot drinks is a way of life here. Coffee is the MAIN drink but I really hate the smell of it. I am a tea drinker. When I grow up I want to be one of those people that travel the world and test wine but instead of wine I want to test tea. Is that called a Tea-oisseur? I have no Idea but it would be cool to taste different teas around the world.  But untill I have my own TV show I will enjoy my cup of Christmas Russian tea, and with every cup I make I will laugh at the Cheeky Baboon who must have had a taste for Russian Tea too!

Russian Tea Mix
3 cups Tang
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup instant tea without sugar or lemon flavored tea powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
Mix together and store in a dry container. Use 1 or 2 spoonfuls for a cup of tea. It all depends on your taste buds! =)