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!
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).
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.
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.
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'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!
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.
mmmmm! This recipe is so worth it - it beats powdered chai mix anyday.
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.
