COOL DRINKS- HOT APPLE TEA

My home state is Missouri.  It has been many years since I last visited, much to my dismay.  What I do   remember about my home state is that the summers were extremely hot, the winter's viciously cold and the winter's produced large amounts of snowfall.  Christmas was Christmas.  Back in my school days, schools were not closed due to bad weather.  You had to get there the best way possible, or you were counted absent.
The winter I was living with my grandmother, we had a bad snow storm that dumped around two feet of snow.  Since grandmother had never learned to drive, I had to walk several blocks to school every day.  This winter's day, she dressed me as warmly as possible and sent me off.  By the time I got to school, I felt almost frozen.  But, my bad luck was just beginning.  Before I had a chance to warm up, the school was calling my grandmother and sending me back home.  The reason being that I was wearing long pants and that was improper attire.  (Now, I am really showing my age.)  Needless to say, I was   truly frozen by the time I got back home.  But, grandmother had this nice hot cup of  "apple tea" waiting on me when I reached home.  I remember grabbing the cup and feeling the warmth rush through my hands.  With the first sip, I was in hog heaven.  As the cup warmed my hands, I could feel the steam warm my face and then the liquid warm me inside.  Though grandmother never gave her recipe, I found this one on the internet and thought I would share it with you.  It seems easy to make and the ingredients seem to be what I remember tasting.

Hot apple tea
3 cups apple cider
1/4 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks (each about 3-inches long)
2 inches piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
4 tea bags (regular or decaffeinated)

Directions:
1 Bring cider, sugar, cinnamon and ginger to boil in a medium saucepan.
2 Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
3 Remove from heat.
4 Add tea bags, cover and let steep 5 minutes.
5 Strain; serve hot.

Having the prefect beverage at the right time makes life special to all of us.  Sometimes, it is the one thing that makes our bad day, better.  But, just as important as having the right beverage, is having the right drinking vessel.  I found these drinking mugs at Katzzs Kloset  and of course, I fell in love with them.
 Vintage Horse Coffee Mugs.  Though they are coffee mugs, they would also be great for other hot beverages.  This would be the perfect gift for someone that loves horses and drinks hot coffee, or tea.