A Basic Hot Chai

I'm a couple weeks late but here goes. Grab a small saucepan and add the following:

1/2 cup of cold water
3/4 cup of milk (lowfat or whole)

Set the pan aside.


Now if the fun part. Gather the following ingredients:


3 whole cloves
3 cardamom pods
1/2 cinnamon stick (1 1/2 inch)
6-8 black peppercorns
Quarter-sized slice of ginger root (sliced into wedges)
pinch of star anise seeds
1 teabag (I used a store-brand black decaf)

Here is your cast of players for this spicy ensemble:

Cut the teabag open and pour contents into the cold saucepan. Drop in the ginger wedges.

Smash (hammer, thrash, pummel or otherwise destroy) the cinnamon stick. Drop dismembered pieces into the saucepan.

Grind up the cloves, peppercorns, anise and cardamom pods (pods and interior seeds together). I used a mortar since I'm taking the low-tech route today. Dump it all into the saucepan and stir.

Measure out 2-4 teaspoons of sugar (or your preferred sweetener) and set it aside.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring repeatedly. Once the bubbling starts, add the sugar and stir it up. Remove the saucepan from heat. Let it set for about 5 minutes (or more, the more time, the more flavor but not too long or you will cool the mixture too much for the next step).

Strain the mixture into a large cup. I poured the tea into 2-cup measuring cup then poured that through a strainer into the large cup.


The result of this is a very "basic" chai in my opinion. From this platform you can tweak ingredients.

Some of what I like to do:

• Add cayenne pepper
• Add vanilla
• Add cinnamon powder to the cup
• Add allspice
• Replace anise with fennel
• Omit the ginger, boost the cardamom for a whole different taste

Of course the options are limited by your own desire alone.

Enjoy! I'd be interested to hear of any adjustments/improvements/etc anyone makes to this. It's very dynamic.