Masala Chai

We substitute honey for sugar and it gives it a deeper flavor!

amazing! way better than Starbucks and the instant ones out there!

To make two cups at a time (because who can have only one?)I increase the spices by three, crush the peppercorns, clove and cardamom pod pull out the seeds and add whole. I then grate about a 1/4″ to 1/2″ of fresh peeled ginger and add to the initial water and sugar. It only takes a teaspoon more of tea because I let it steep longer,approximately 5 minutes. Also I only use Turbinado Sugar.

I just spent two years in Tanzania where I was served Chai Masala every morning. You should add a teaspoon of ground ginger to get the right flavor. Some Tanzanians also add a teapoon of cinnamon.

I don’t know if there’s a “correct” way, but I find it much more flavorful & satisfying if I use several times as much spice, and boil everything together for some time. For a large 20-ounce mugful, I start with probably 30 ounces of water, 2 heaping teaspoons “CTC style” loose black tea, 3-4 cardamom pods, probably 10-15 whole cloves, 10-15 whole peppercorns, and a 2-3 inch cinnamon stick. I find that any powdered or ground spice adds an unpleasant “thickness” that coats my tongue. I put the tea and all the spices together in the water, and bring to a boil, then continue to boil for 5 or more minutes. At some point I scoop in about 2 tablespoons or so of white sugar and bring back to the boil. Pour in some whole milk till the tea is the proper rich reddish brown color, remove from the heat and strain into a cup. If boiled after the milk is added, a skin can develop on the surface but you can scrape this off and the tea is still fine. Of course you can experiment with different amounts of everything, but I think boiling importantly releases more flavor than just steeping.

This is one where you really kind of have to add more of what spice you like to shine through. Great basic and one that can be tweaked to your liking.

I just tried this recipe for the first time today. I am a huge fan of chai tea and chai lattes, and this chai hit the spot. The recipe was unbelievably easy and incredibly tasty. I loved it! 😉

I gave three stars because while it was very helpful as a basis to work from, as written, the recipe tasted very bland to me. I could barely detect any spices over the sugar and pepper. Made the following tweaks: added some fresh ginger to the mix (chopped into about 1″ squares), omitted the pepper (cardamom and cinnamon still give just the right amount of kick), used 1 TSP of ground cardamom since I didn’t have whole, and used about 1/2TSP of cloves. I simmered for about 10 minutes to get more flavor from the spices.

yummmm! This was my first time trying this. I made a few changes to double the recipe. I like cardamon so for 2c. water I added 4 pods. Didnt have any whole clover so instead I used some allspice (a little variation but worked quite nicely). Topped the tea off with a little dash of cinnamon. Tasty!

Fantastic!

this was very good, however i made a few changes so that I could have a more spicy chai. i added one star aniseed pod and 2 slices of fresh ginger which i strained out with the other spices.

I’m giving this 3 stars coz this could do with a tad more of the spices. And ginger is a must to give it the authentic taste!

I loved it! Been trying to find that recipe forever. All I could ever make did not even come close to this. I did modified the milk to 1/4 cup though. Thank you for sharing!

This tea is very bland and not like in Indian restaurants. I can`t feel no one spice, it seems like I`am drinking simple tea with milk. 2-3 minutes are not enough to make all spices give their flavor.

Delicious and simple. I assumed green cardamom pods as opposed to black, and left out the sugar as I don’t like my tea to taste like candy. 🙂 Also fwiw, I have some authentic Indian masala chai and it uses black Assam tea, however I didn’t have any on hand so used regular Orange Pekoe and it was fine.

I love chai teas!! I especially love using tea leaves to control the sweetness. I reduced the pepper to half because I think it tastes better.

So good and much better than the instant stuff. Once you invest in the spices, also much less expensive than Oregon Chai. Even better with ginger and more cardamon!

mmmmm! This recipe is so worth it – it beats powdered chai mix anyday.

Just bought some fresh ingredients today and tried this recipe…WOW!!! I love it so much! The drink came up irresistable! Thanx a lot!

I wored with a young lady from India who advised me to add a little ginger and kick up the cardomom a notch (smile). This recipe was excellent. I also had to substitute heavy cream for the milk (as the kid used it all on chocolate milk).