Due to a miscommunication, you didn’t get any tea on Friday afternoon so it’s coming at you late but heartfelt.

I have 5 sisters and three of them live very close to me. We rarely see each other and usually only for major events & holidays. So one of my sisters recently called to discuss the possibility of a monthly gathering of sisters. As I discuss it with each of my other sisters it’s interesting to see the differences in what each of us imagines it will be. I imagine a monthly tea involving teas, some nibbles, and the younger children. One of my sisters imagines a meal, potluck, with the food groups brought by a complicated rotation of sisters (based upon how far they’ve driven & whether they’re hosting). But in talking to her (and realizing the presence of children that her presence would imply) I remembered a family tradition: Chris Tea.

When my mother & one of her sisters lived close to each other, they would meet frequently for tea. When my aunt’s eldest got to be old enough, he began to demand that he be included in said tea. Not wanting to fill him up with caffeine, Chris Tea was invented, after the child who first drank it. Eventually, all of us kids ended up enjoying Chris Tea, even long after we were able to make it ourselves. Sometimes it was accompanied by Graham Crackers and I was well into adolescence before I realized that these were not named after Chris’ brother Graham…

So in honor of Chris, in honor of his mother & mine, and in honor of the next generation of Chris Tea drinkers here is my family’s recipe for Chris Tea:

Chris Tea
a cupful of recently boiled water, cooled slightly
milk, to further cool the water
sugar to taste

serve in a suitably fancy-but-not-too-fragile cup with a side of Graham Crackers