Chai tea is my favourite hot drink.
I first heard about Chai many years ago, from a friend living in India. She talked about the extremely sweet tea that was delicious, but what made it special was how it was made. Two small jugs are poured dramatically back and forth to create a frothy, spicy sweet drink.
Chai has certainly become prominent in the hot drink scene and it’s basically black tea infused with spices. You can drink just the infusion or add some milk.
Our version isn’t as dramatic (or as sweet), but we think its pretty yummy. There’s lots of secrets to creating a good chai and no two recipes are alike, so here’s The Sugar Breakup’s Chai Tea recipe.
- Prep time: 20 mins
- Serves: 8
- Can be served hot or cold
Ingredients
2 inches of fresh ginger, thinly cut
2 cinnamon sticks
10 whole cloves
2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
4 bags of tea or 1/3 cup (Darjeeling, Assam or English breakfast)
1/4 cup The Sugar Breakup Organic Golden Rice Malt Syrup
3 cups full cream milk
5 cups of hot water
Lets get brewing
- On a bench top combine the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, cardamom and using the back of a spoon or mallet bruise them slightly. (You can use a mortar and pestle). Add the spices to a pot with the water and freshly cut ginger.
- You want to just boil the water and then let it simmer for 15mins. If you boil the water on high heat you can make the chai spices bitter.
- Take the pot off the stove and add the tea. Brew for 2-3 minutes (depending how strong you like the tea to taste). Any longer and the tea can turn bitter.
- Strain the tea and remove all the spices and tea leaves; return to the pot.
- Add milk and rice malt syrup. Heat it up, but don’t let it boil.
- Serve warm
Tips and hints
- You can add the following ingredients depending on what flavours you love: vanilla extract or vanilla pod and its seeds, nutmeg or dark dutch cocoa powder for a chocolate version.
- Can be served cold, poured over ice.
- Add some milk froth, and then top with cinnamon (if you have a frothing machine) to make it look gorgeous when serving to guests.
- We have suggested how much rice malt syrup we use, you may need to add more or less depending on how sweet you like your chai.
- This can be made with other milks like almond or soy milk.
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