Old fashioned tea cakes have as their ingredients 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 eggs, 4 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Begin by creaming the sugar and butter together with the back of a spoon. Add the eggs which should be minimally beaten, flour, baking powder vanilla and salt. Lay on floured board and slice. Sprinkle sugar and put in the oven and bake at 400 degrees. Keep on the oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

Another tea cake recipe is called Maw-Maw’s tea cakes. They consist of 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, ¾ cup cooking oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 cups flour. This recipe is simple if you have the ingredients. Simply mix all of the elements and drop by teaspoonful on a cookie sheet which should be greased. Bake at 425 degrees about 10 to 12 minutes. The mixture will stiffen as it cools off.

The above simple recipes for tea cakes prove that you do not have to be a telecook to learn how to bake cookies. The ingredients are available everywhere and might even be in your kitchen cabinet, if you do much cooking. Cooking time is minimal, and you can put it on a timer so you do not have to watch them to prevent burning.

While friendship tea is a generic term for many different recipes, common ingredients include sugar, lemon, and orange flavored powders together with instant tea. Common spices include cinnamon and cloves to add flavor.

When its ingredients are combined and stashed in a hermetically sealed container, friendship tea stays fresh for days at a time and provides instant convenience and bite.

In addition to being utilized for a personal refresher, the mixture can be bottled in jars and covered with a cloth and given as gifts around holiday time. Let us look at a recipe for friendship tea.

Traditional friendship tea requires the following ingredients: ½ cup instant tea powder, 1 cup sweetened lemonade powder, 1 cup orange-flavored drink mix, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon ground cloves. Combine all the above ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix them up and put them in an airtight container. When serving, put 1 tablespoon of mix in a coffee cup or beer mug and cover with 1 cup boiling water, stirring as you pour.

There are many other different types and recipes for friendship tea, namely spicy friendship tea and a variation to friendship tea. Ingredients of these include sugar, cinnamon candy, anise, and lemonade mix. To see these recipes click on www.learn-about-tea.com/friendship-tea.html.

Tea can be drunk either hot or cold and subsequently gives rise to many different recipes. A popular one in Thai restaurants and coffee houses is Thai Iced Chai. It begins with guarana or  California Chai made with 3 bags cooled. Add 16 ounces of water, 8 to 12 ice cubes, 1 ounce Dalf and half, 4 ounces milk, 2  ounces Almond Syrup, 2 ounces Coconut Syrup, and one ounce passionfruit syrup. Combine them all in a blender. Blend in spurts and on high speed until the ice is fine and the mix is smooth. Pour into big glasses and add a cinnamon stick as a garnish, and you are ready for this sweet, tasty and fruity refreshing drink.

Another fun recipe is fruit tea punch. This one is also drunk cold. The ingredients are 2 bags golden green tea, 1.5 cups of water, 1 cup honey, 1 cup orange juice, .5 cup fresh lemon juice, 1 cup fresh fruit crushed and 1 pint ginger ale. Make the tea as instructed on tea bags. Let it cool off. Combine all the ingredients except the ginger ale. At the last minute add the ginger ale and ice. Adjust the taste by diluting the drink with either water or ginger ale.

Sometimes the sour mix is replaced with sweet n sour mix or with lemon juice. Other times, it is replaced with coca or iced tea. Other times, you can add white crème de menthe. And finally, some bartenders replace the tequila with brandly.

However, just as a rose by any other name will smell as sweet, a Long Island Iced Tea with all its variants is still a very strong drink that the consumer should take precautions with. It does have a very delightful taste which often masks its potency. Drink it slowly and measure its effects. Make certain you do not have to drive anywhere too soon.

Overseas, this drink is often modified because sour mix is not as popular in foreign countries. Instead, Long Island Iced Tea is often made internationally with liquors and cola alone, leaving out the sour mix, with lemon and/or lime juice instead. Another popular variation of the Long Island Iced Tea is what is known as the Purple Rain. In the Purple Rain, the triple sec is substituted with a shot of Chambord and the cola is replaced with lemonlime soda. Long Beach Iced Teas, another variation, contains cranberry juice instead of cola.

In the bubble tea sugar syrup recipe, the ingredients include 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar and 2 cups of water. These ingredients make up 32-35 sixteen ounce servings. Simply mix the sugar and water in a big pot. Heat on medium high temperature. After the mixture boils, remove it. Refrigerate and serve. Let us look at a bubble tea recipe for a fruit drink.

Otherwise known as a Boba, combine 1 cup fresh fruit, ½ cup milk, 1 scoop bubble tea sugar syrup, 1 cup ice and 2 fl. Oz. cup of cooked bubble tea pearls. Mix all ingredients except the pearls into a mixer. Make certain the fruits are mashed well into the shake. Add bubble tea tapioca pearls in a cup, and pour the drink mixture on top of it. And not to be forgotten—insert a straw and inhale and enjoy this luscious drink.

It is served all year with every meal, unlike other places where people only drink it in the summer. What exactly is a sweet tea you might ask? Sweet tea is a form of iced tea that has sugar added to the hot water at any time, whether it is added before brewing, during brewing, or post-brewing. After you add the sugar the drink is then chilled and served.

This tea is common in the Southern states because it can be made in large quantities. It is also very quick and inexpensive to make. Some restaurants in the South will even put a pitcher of sweet iced tea on a table for the dinner party to keep refilling for free.

But where did the idea of sweet tea come from? The oldest sweet tea recipe that is found in print was written in a community cookbook called Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree, which was published in 1879.

At first this recipe stated that the maker of the iced tea had to use green tea, but during World War II we were cut short of green tea supply and people started using black tea. After that black sweet iced tea became revolutionary.

After you obtain all the ingredients, combine orange-drink mix, sugar, tea powder, cinnamon, and closes. Mix them all together in an airtight container such as a Tupperware and put aside.

Once you mix all the ingredients together, pour 3 teaspoons of the mixture in a mug. Simply add boiling water, and there you have it. Adjust the amount of mixture to taste.

As we said, this can make a great Christmas gift. One woman’s daughter made a sand art mixture out of it by layering the ingredients in a small baby food jar. She placed a piece of fabric between the mixture and the lid and secured it with a rubber band. The daughter then covered the rubber band with a garland for aesthetic purposes.

The good news about Russian Tea is that unlike soft drinks or flavored coffees, it is not fattening. There are 0 grams of fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 mg sodium, 0 grams of dietary fiber, and 0 mg of protein. It does, however, contain 8.4 grams of total carbohydrates per serving but this appreciably less that the calories in a coca cola or sweetened iced tea.

The recipe for a Long Island Iced Tea includes ½ oz. triple sec, ½ oz. rum, ½ oz. gin, ½ oz. vodka—should we stop there? Of course not—and ½ oz. tequila. Throw in 1 oz. sour mix and cola garnished with a lemon wedge at the top of the glass and you have got a Long Island Iced Tea—something F. Scott Fitzgerald would drink at his gala parties in the Hamptons.

Variations on the theme abound. You may replace the sour mix with sweet n sour mix or with lemon juice, the coca cola with genuine iced tea for a hint of sobriety, or you may add crème de menthe. The drink has a 28% alcohol concentration which makes it as lethal as it is and popular among party-goers and bar hoppers. This is attributed to its relatively small amount of mixer.

In Europe, the sour mix is often left out. Instead, it is often mixed with liquors and coca cola alone, with lemon and lime juice, or with lime cordial. Another variation of the Long Island Iced Tea is the Purple Rain. Here, the triple sec is substituted with Chambord and the cola substituted with lemonlime soda. In The Long Beach Iced Tea, another offshoot of the Long Island Iced Tea, the coke is substituted with cranberry juice.

What are tea sandwiches? The uninformed may ask. Tea sandwiches are small, dainty sandwiches that can be consumed in one or two bites. In fact, tea sandwich recipes may include everything from Cucumber Tea Sandwiches, Tomato Tea Sandwiches, Almond Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Pepper Cheese Sandwiches, Pineapple-Cream Cheese Sandwiches, and Hummus in Pita Bread. Each recipe has its own distinct ingredients but generally, it is best to be aware that there are five characteristics of traditional tea sandwiches.

Firstly, they are small. They are generally cut into 4 bite-size pieces—either four squares or triangles or three fingers. Sometimes, hostesses choose to utilize a cookie cutter, but that technique is not recommended because a lot of the sandwich goes to waste.

Secondly, tea sandwich recipes have no crust. The crust is removed before making the tea sandwich for a tea sandwich recipe. This is for aesthetic not nutritional purposes.

Thirdly, the slices of bread are thin. This-sliced bread is available in many different types. German bread is thin sliced and makes a great tea sandwich. If you cannot find German bread, buy square-topped unsliced loaves of bread, and have the baker behind the counter slice them for you. You can even do it yourself if you have the right kitchen utensils. Use your electric knife or a knife you carve turkey with. They will work.

Fourth, tea sandwiches are tasty. Your guests will love them.

Fifth, most tea sandwiches are spread with butter and/or cream cheese.

Simply take ½ oz. triple sec, ½ oz. light rum, ½ oz. gin, ½ oz. vodka, ½ oz. tequila and 1 oz. sour mix. Ah, these are the ingredients that will make your head spin. Remember, we are not talking about iced teas around the Canasta table on Long Island. We are talking about a Long Island Iced Tea. Mix the alcohol and sour mix together over a glass filled with ice. Add the cola and garnish with a lemon, and voila…you have it.

If you do not like a strong drink, you can add more triple sec. Long Island Iced Tea connoisseurs suggest using 1.5 oz. of liquor and 3.5 oz. of triple sec.

Afficionados also suggest buying high quality liquor to increase the quality of the taste of the drink. We all know how we sometimes skimp on those cheap bottles of vodka in dire situations. The point is to make the best Long Island Iced Tea that you can–the one that tastes like how your local pub makes it.

Chai tea mix recipes have a tendency to differ practically from person to person because historically there wasn’t a standardized recipe for Chai tea. Each chai tea mix recipe has a unique blend of ingredients suited to the taste of the individual, the only true requirement being black tea, milk and spices. As with many aspects of using a chai tea mix recipe, even the type of tea used is also up for interpretation with some substituting herbal infusions like rooibos or yerba mate for black tea. Many spices and flavorings are typically used in chai tea mixes, but the most important among these is cardamom, as it is key in giving chai tea its characteristic flavor. Spicing agents like black peppercorns or ginger are also integral to the recipe. There is much debate about the proper ratio of milk to be used, but most estimates call for equal parts milk and water.

In the past, most chai tea was painstakingly made at home of served in a local café. In the last twenty years, the popularity of the beverage has spawned a multitude of mixes to be made at home as well as readymade chai tea drinks available in practically every modern supermarket and coffee shop.

It was first concocted during the 1970s by Robert Bott, a bartender from Long Island. Charles Bishop, a moonshiner during the 1930s, is also credited with the concoction.

First, take ½ oz. triple sec, ½ oz. light rum, ½ oz. gin, ½ oz. vodka, ½ oz. tequila, 1 oz. sour mix, and 1 oz. cola. Sounds deadly, right? Let us continue undaunted with the outcome. Pour the alcohol and sour mix together into a Collins glass filled with ice. Then add the cola topping it off with a slice of lemon.

At first, the drink will taste like a harmless, refreshing soft drink. It will seduce you into a second drink. Then, watch out! Its potency is legendary.

Many variations to the drink can be found in the type of spices or sweeteners used. There are any number of spices and flavorings that have found their way into chai tea recipes including cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, anise, allspice, licorice, and vanilla. Any combination of these is acceptable, but many believe that true chai tea needs to include cardamom and either pepper or ginger for spiciness. Almost any sweetener is used, but the most common is plain white sugar. Turbinado, demarara and other raw cane sugars are sometimes used for an earthy flavor and some recipes even call for honey. Any type of milk or non-dairy milk substitute can be used, but there is much debate about the proper proportions of milk to water to be used.

Many retailers have caught on to the chai tea phenomenon and have produced quality chai tea mixes for speed and ease. Popular outlets have their own brands and mixtures like Starbucks chai tea, which has become one of their best selling drinks. Other brands like Mystic Chai Tea, Big Train Chai Tea and Tazo Chai Tea provide authentic flavor with the convenience of being already prepared. Many times, the drink is also referred to as “chai tea latte” to denote the presence of milk in the beverage.