Easy version of chai tea, using whole spices and sweetened condensed milk. To vary the flavor, try adding a bit of star anise, fennel, allspice, vanilla bean, or nutmeg. For a sweeter tea, stir in a bit of brown sugar.
This was lovely and made the whole house smell great! I subbed 1 tbsp powdered ginger for the fresh and it worked out great. I also subbed 2 c milk and 1 1/4 c sugar for the sweetened condensed milk. This tastes great and is a lot cheaper than these small boxes of chai at the store!
Read MoreAm a little suprised that so many people said this was good. Not spicey enough and the sweetened condensed milk adds a totally different flavor. Does not taste like a traditional Chai tea.
Read MoreThis was lovely and made the whole house smell great! I subbed 1 tbsp powdered ginger for the fresh and it worked out great. I also subbed 2 c milk and 1 1/4 c sugar for the sweetened condensed milk. This tastes great and is a lot cheaper than these small boxes of chai at the store!
This is a great base recipe for Chai that I will use again and again. I intend to make a batch each weekend and store it in the fridge to save on calories (and money) for Chai from the coffee shop! Comparatively, this recipe is pretty low calorie. 90 cal per serving compared to 240 cal for a grande Chai latte at Starbucks. My first batch had a good balance of spices, but was just a little sweet for my family's liking. I think next time I make it, I'll use 3/4 of the sweetened condensed milk rather than the whole can.
Am a little suprised that so many people said this was good. Not spicey enough and the sweetened condensed milk adds a totally different flavor. Does not taste like a traditional Chai tea.
This recipe is very good. I added 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, a dash of fennel seeds, and a dash of anise. Also, a handy conversion is: one cinnamon stick equals 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. It makes the house smell great!
I used A LOT of spices and will keep this spiced water as a base to make tea. I'm freezing some of it and putting the rest in the refrig. When I'm ready for my chai I can prepare 1 cup at a time. I heat it up, add the tea bag as usual. After steeping I add milk and perhaps sugar. Actually tastes much like the chai tea bags I purchase but this is much healthier! (I forgot the ginger and will add it next time!)
We made this for Christmas day and it was a big hit. We did some variations. First we let the tea bags sit in the slow cooker for 4 hours or so with the spices. It made the tea nice and smooth (decaf). Instead of fresh ginger we used about a tablespoon of the dry stuff. We also used dried cardamom and about half the cloves. We did included nutmeg. Wow! we will be using this recipe often and avoid the long and expensive lines at that well known coffee shop.
I was leary of this recipe for some reason, but it turned out really good! I used 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom (it's all I could find) and 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon instead of cinnamon sticks. I also used fat free sweet and condensed milk, and it tastes great. When I strained the tea, I made sure most of the ground cinnamon and cardamom were strained out, otherwise it would have had too much muckiness to it. I would make this again.
My slow cooker is small so I only made half of this recipe. I added all of the ingredients (except for peppercorns...I didnt have any) and put it on low around 10pm so I could enjoy it around 7am the next morning. The chai tasted GREAT. I added the condensed milk little by little so I could avoid having it taste too sweet. This tastes just like the Starbucks version, but a little better.
Loved this recipe! Followed it correctly, but only added 6 tea bags and added 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Heated up a cup in the microwave the next day after refrigerating and it was so delicious! Didn't need to add creamer or anything!
Best chai ever! My crockpot could only hold 2 quarts so I couldn't make a full batch. I also chose to add allspice, nutmeg and a vanilla bean.
This is the only tea I drink now. This recipe is so good I make it every week or so, depending on when I run out. I drink one cup of this every morning. My modifications are just that when I make it, I add four tea bags of any kind of tea (usually four bags of Tazo brand Chai flavor and four bags of another like Tazo brand orange tea). I then store all of my tea in the refrigerator, and I also do not add any sweetened condensed milk until I warm up a cup. I used to freeze half of the brew, but the ice-formed tea seems to be slightly different in taste and quality to me, so now I just put it in the refrigerator. Each morning, I scoop out enough of the refrigerated tea to warm up in a pan on the stovetop for a cup of tea. Once heated, I take one heaping teaspoonful of sweetened condensed milk and pour the hot tea over that and stir it in. I pretty much followed the recipe as given, but sometimes I add a star anise or two. I really don't notice any difference in flavor for adding it though. It's the best tea I've ever had!
I love this recipe! I use ground spices because I have them on hand, and used some of the other reviewers ideas like adding vanilla. I have been making it every 3 days, each time slightly different. Thank you!
This was very delicious! I made the recipe as written except for the cardamom pods because I didn't have any. I used some anise seed instead, and threw in a little extra ginger.
I added in 5 star anise and 5 allspice berries. drinking it right now (without tea) with almond milk, delicious!
Wow this was so good! I was completely amazed. I followed the recipe pretty closely except I could only put in 2 1/2 quarts of water because my crock pot is too small, and I put it on LOW overnight, (about 10 hours which was totally enough... it was still extremely spicy and flavorful) Also, I only used 6 black tea bags. Everything else was exactly as written. Then, when I put it into mugs to serve I used my little frother thingy to make it like a real latte. So good! Way better than starbucks!
I added more pepper, more ginger (we like it spicier) and I substituted nutmeg for cardamom because cardamom is super expensive! It still came out well. I also was a little weirded out by the milk so I only added half a can and I found that it was plenty! I think a whole can would have made it too sweet and thick. You can always add more milk if you like more.
Delicious and made the whole apartment smell delightful as the spices "brewed" overnight alone. I only had whole cinnamon sticks which I put in the water. The rest of the spices were ground which I put in a tied off coffee filter that I floated in the water so I wouldn't have to strain the tea. (I did let the spices brew alone for hours before I added the tea bags in the last few minutes.) I didn't add condensed milk to the tea as some people preferred real sugar and some needed a type of fake sugar. I opened a can of evaporated milk and set it near the tea for guests to serve themselves in their own cups. Then people could sweeten their own cups as they liked.
I'm an avid chai drinker and this recipe is absolutely great, but know it is a sweet chai, not spicy. I used ground ginger, allspice, nutmeg, 4 sticks of cinnamon, 12 cardamom pods, 6 star anise, 7 tea bags, and 3/4 the can of condensed milk. I waited to add the condensed milk and tea bags till the morning and let them steep for a 1/2 hour. I will make this again and again, and it was a fantastic smell to wake up to!
I made this for a work pot luck and it was a hit. Everyone enjoyed the kick of caffein the bold flavor. I made the first batch to recipe and felt it was a bit weaker in flavor that I like so I spiced it up with a little extra spices as suggested by the recipe poster. I added 2 vanilla beans a little bit of fennel and nutmeg and that really helped. Yummy .
First off, the Spices should be cheaper at an Indian store if you have any around you. I am making this for the second time now and added extra peppercorn. I think it tastes better with milk (before I added the sweetened condensed milk I took a cup aside to try regular milk.) I am thinking of adding a little vanilla in the future based on other reviews. Because pouring a whole 5.5 quart slow cooker (oval) is difficult. I got a Soup Spoon to ladle the water through a strainer into my pitcher. It took longer, but I did not spill anything. (This Chai is too good to waste in a spill.)
I made mine with roobos tea as I don't drink any other kind of tea and it tasted awesome. I plan on making the chai water not adding the condensed milk and using it to make hot chocolate next. I'm also curious about how long it'll keep. Should be a while as there's barely anything in it to go bad
I added some whole nutmeg and some anise. I also don't consume sugar so I added some warm whole milk to my cup. You can go heavier with the spice of you like, but it's not bad at all if you follow the recipe.
Oh this was sooo good!! Much better than chai at a coffee shop. I put it on low in the late afternoon and drank it the next day. I did need to add more water in the morning and about 4 more cups of water right before steeping the tea, but it was phenomenal. I turned the temp up to high for about 10 mins before I stepped the tea, then turned it off when I put the teabags in. Even my picky (sorry :) grandmother and father who do not like tea kept coming back for more cups!
Love this more than Tazo. Added extra peppercorns for spice. Used powdered ingredients since that's all I had on hand. Delicious iced or hot.
I have made this recipe several times and it is delicious! I use a tea ball for the spices, so I don't have to strain it. In the summertime I keep a pitcher of it in the fridge and drink it iced.
I've made this 3 times so far. Not a fan of cloves so I only use about 10. Don't see the point in splitting the cardamom so I just toss it in whole. The other recipes add allspice and I have it on hand so toss in 3 or 4 whole. Also using really nice black tea so only use 4 bags. Only use as much sweetened condensed milk as you prefer. Tastes great and doesn't have all the yuck additives in the chai tea mix from this site which I've made for years. Keeps in the frig and heats up well.
Very good chai! I couldn't find green cardamom pods, so I used the dried seeds I had in the cupboard, and I subbed white peppercorns for black (used more than three!). Threw in a couple allspice berries, and floated a star anise on top for looks at serving time. Came out excellent, I am enjoying the chilled leftovers before work, thanks for the recipe Seneca_S!
Made as the recipe states, except I added 1 cup mix white/brown sugar and milk. Does not taste like the delicious chai tea lattes I get at Indian restaurants, but it is good anyway.
I was a little disappointed with this when I had a cup right after making it; however, the next day when I heated a cup it was good. I will be making this again!
