Homebrewed Chai
It’s been rainy and gray here, and to me, a gray day is best spent with a cup of hot tea, a good book, and/or a craft project. I’ve also been a bit under the weather, so I spent the day hunkered down with tea, movies, a friend, and a knitting project.
I love chai, but often find that commercial brands are too sweet and have an aftertaste that I don’t love. Several months ago I found some recipes for homemade chai and after trying several, I’ve put together a recipe for a tea that I love—and kind of can’t get enough of. It has a good balance and variety of spices and is just lightly sweetened.
Homemade Chai
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 1 stick cinnamon, broken
- 1 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
- 9 whole cardamom pods, split open
- 2 whole star anise
- 10 whole cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon orange zest (sometimes I leave this out)
- ½ vanilla bean, scraped and pod
- 10 bags of black tea
- 1/3 cup brown sugar*
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoons vanilla
Prepare the spices and the tea and set aside. Bring the water to a boil in a sauce, pan and remove from heat. Add the spices and the tea bags, and allow the mixture to steep for 20 minutes.
Strain the mixture into a 4-cup glass measuring cup or large bowl, discarding the spices. Add the sugar, honey and the vanilla, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the mixture into a jar and store in the refrigerator.
To serve, mix 1 part concentrate with 1 part milk. I like this mix both hot and iced, but on a drizzly day, it’s my favorite hot drink.
*You can substitute honey for the brown sugar if you prefer an all-honey chai. To replace the brown sugar, substitute ¼ cup honey in addition to the tablespoon already called for.
Drink it yourself, or take some to a sick friend…it’s great for sore throats.