If you're getting our newsletter, you'll have the secret on how to make your own Green Tea Latte. But what if you're not the green tea type? Impress your friends and brew your Chai from scratch!
Essentially, Chai is just black tea brewed strong with a combination of flavorful spices, and diluted with milk and sugar. Think spiced cider. It's pretty similar. When you brew your own for a while, you'll find a particular combination of spices that suits you, but for starters, here's a good basic recipe:
Chai Concentrate:
2-1/2 cups of water
4-inch stick of cinnamon
12 cardamom pods
16 allspice berries
1 tsp of ground ginger (or 2-3 quarter-sized slices of fresh ginger)
6 tsp sugar (or 2 tbsp of honey)
3 tsp of black (Ceylon or Darjeeling) tea leaves
Add:
2 cups of frothed/steamed milk.
Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil (water – ginger). Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15-20 minutes. Add tea leaves, and steep for an additional 3-5 minutes. Strain spices and leaves. Stir in sugar or honey until dissolved. Stir in hot frothed milk.
To make single servings, use 1/2 cup milk and an equal amount of chai concentrate. (Concentrate may be stored, tightly sealed, up to 2 weeks.)