In the 60's and 70's my Mother and Aunt made tea syrup.They would boil a
pound of tea with sugar or sacrin. Then you could keep it in the Frig in
a jar and make one glass at a time or use it for hot teas also.

Does anyone know exactly how to make it ? If you do please email
me the recipe. Thank you....Leo

Dear Leo -

This group is mainly occupied by passionate tea lovers and what you're
describing may (in this group tradition) ironically epitomise exactly the
opposite - what we would call a tea murder
Even allowing tea to boil in general is considered to be a no-no, boiling
tea down would be like burining a flag or something The only tradition
of boiling tea for a prolonged period of time I know of is an old Russian
prison tradition of making "chifir" - a very concentrated (1 glass of water
per approx 3 ounces of tea) black tea boiled for several minutes into an
almost untolerably bitter drink that brings a special mind-wandering and
hallucinating effect. No sugar is used because sugar is currency in such
places, not a tea sweetener.

However one of the principals of the tea culture is acceptance of any legal
way of enjoying tea, so if you finally find the recipy (why not
experimenting yourself?) please, tell us.

Sasha.


"Leo B" > wrote in message
...
In the 60's and 70's my Mother and Aunt made tea syrup.They would boil a
pound of tea with sugar or sacrin. Then you could keep it in the Frig in
a jar and make one glass at a time or use it for hot teas also.

Does anyone know exactly how to make it ? If you do please email
me the recipe. Thank you....Leo

Another interesting thing about "tea syrup" - or, in this case "tea
concentrate" is also from Russian prison culture.
Very strong tea is being slowly evaporated (preferably without boiling)
into a tarry substance with which different garments are saturated and dried
and then brought inside the prison. Also loose tea is brought into prisons
inside sutures of shirts, raw cotton-filled winter garments, etc.

Dry loose black tea is one of the most valuable items in Russian prisons
(probably the most valuable) and it would take me hundreds of pages to
describe the full process of making chifir, distribution of "seconds" tea -
tea used once and "thirds" tea between major classes of inmates
(thieves-in-law being on the top and homosexuals being on the bottom), etc.
Tea is hold to such a high esteem in such places that prisoners of Georgian
origin, as I was told, have some special privileges because "the are from
where tea grows".
Tea culture in Russian criminal system somehow was never described in
languages other than Russian (as far as I know) and I do not feel like I
know it good enough to break the silence.
Suffice to say that even so that a prisoner is entitled to buy small amount
of tea every month from an inside prison shop, if he does not belong to two
upper layers of prison inmates he has to voluntarily give up dry tea and
later will be given the back the "seconds". Another thing is that tea making
(because of chifir-making) is absolutely forbidden in Russian prisons and
guards assault the inmates of the cell in which they suspect such activity
with force and dogs. Any found tea is confiscated and perpetrators severely
punished by isolation in single "cold" cells.
Tea can be quite a brutal business....

Sorry if this is too off-topic...

Sasha.


"Alex Chaihorsky" > wrote in message
t...
> Dear Leo -
>
> This group is mainly occupied by passionate tea lovers and what you're
> describing may (in this group tradition) ironically epitomise exactly the
> opposite - what we would call a tea murder
> Even allowing tea to boil in general is considered to be a no-no, boiling
> tea down would be like burining a flag or something The only tradition
> of boiling tea for a prolonged period of time I know of is an old Russian
> prison tradition of making "chifir" - a very concentrated (1 glass of
> water per approx 3 ounces of tea) black tea boiled for several minutes
> into an almost untolerably bitter drink that brings a special
> mind-wandering and hallucinating effect. No sugar is used because sugar
> is currency in such places, not a tea sweetener.
>
> However one of the principals of the tea culture is acceptance of any
> legal way of enjoying tea, so if you finally find the recipy (why not
> experimenting yourself?) please, tell us.
>
> Sasha.
>
>
> "Leo B" > wrote in message
> ...
> In the 60's and 70's my Mother and Aunt made tea syrup.They would boil a
> pound of tea with sugar or sacrin. Then you could keep it in the Frig in
> a jar and make one glass at a time or use it for hot teas also.
>
> Does anyone know exactly how to make it ? If you do please email
> me the recipe. Thank you....Leo
>

On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 08:24:22 GMT, Alex Chaihorsky wrote:

>The only tradition of boiling tea for a prolonged period of
>time I know of is an old Russian prison tradition

When Indians, from India, cook "chai" they do boil the
tea for a few minutes, often together with milk and sugar.

They use "dust tea", which is black tea ground into a
fine powder.

When in India I love a glass of strong chai in the morning!

In cup; Dung Ti Oolong



Lars
Stockholm

"Alex Chaihorsky" > wrote in message
t...
> Dear Leo -
> .........................
........................................
> No sugar is used because sugar is currency in such places, not a tea
> sweetener.
>
> Sasha.
>
>

Actually I was wrong - sugar is not used because adding even small amount of
sugar can get you in trouble - from vomiting to even bigger problems with
stomack pains, etc. Also eating both before and after drinking this potion
is a dangerous proposition. Apparently the prison folklore believes that tea
is very high in vitamins and minerals and has a very high ability to lift
person's energy levels. I do not mean coffeine here during actual chifir
consumtion, but rather the prolonged, metabolic effect.
Many medical professionals expressed surprise observing the levels of energy
of Russian prisoners compared to the caloric value of their regular diet.
Most of Russian prisoners spending the majority of their incarceration doing
physical work, while apparently their diet does not appear to be in sync
with it.


Sasha.

http://www.recipegoldmine.com/bevtea/bevtea26.html

> http://www.recipegoldmine.com/bevtea/bevtea26.html:

"I make this iced tea syrup all the time, and it is great. I received
this recipe a long time ago - from where I can't say.

10 tea bags
3 cups water
3 cups granulated sugar

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a large pot and boil for 10 minutes.
Pour into a bottle and keep refrigerated.
Mix 5 parts of water to one part tea syrup concentrate or to your own
taste."

I think I'd throw a pinch or two of baking soda in there to cut back on
the tannins that are going to come out.