Chai ... something hot to chill out with

I was going to post a little something that I was working on with a homemade chai creation, however I have unwittingly used up a few of the necessary ingredients. This means I will have to wait a couple weeks until I can really put something on here. I hate just posting anything without actually whipping it up in real time.

The tough part with chai is that it never comes out the same way twice when I make it. I always tweak, adjust or experiment with something on the occasions when I make it myself. Usually, for convenience sake, I use "pre-fab" chai tea bags. Some are better than others, but I find Tazo is my favorite and Stash my second.

However, nothing and I mean NOTHING beats a homemade chai. A little effort is needed, but it pays off. What I have done is scour the almighty Internet for ideas about how to do this. I've tried dozens of recipes and recommendations. No single approach seems to be what I am looking for and when some are combined the result are really fantastic.

In a couple weeks I will have something to put here, however until then if you want to do you own exploration, allow me to give you a few pieces of advice:

1. Avoid using pre-powered spices to make the "umph" part of the tea. It's just not the same. Your "pre-fab" chai tea bags have been processed (by whatever means) so that the flavor is more concentrated. If you want to make your efforts worthwhile, use "raw" ingredients.
2. Your primary components are cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper and tea. Other countless additives very based on taste.
3. Traditionally chai is brewed in hot liquid, not in heated then cooling liquid to maximize potency of the spices used. Furthermore this liquid is usually 50% water / 50% milk (this varies).

I'll be adding more (a recipe, pictures and heck, maybe a video) once I get what I need.