Most economical way to make good chai tea?
OK, here’s my favorite recipe. It makes 2 generous mugs of chai, but you can scale it up or down. Put one mug’s worth of water in a saucepan over low heat. Add a generous pinch of ground cinnamon. Grind to a powder 10 green cardamom pods and 2 whole cloves. Add to water and let it come slowly to a boil (you want to allow a reasonable amount of time to extract flavor from the spices). Add 2 heaping teaspoons of strong black tea. I prefer Assam, but any Indian tea would work. Chinese black teas don’t taste right in chai, to me. Simmer for another 3 – 5 minutes. You want the tea to be very strong because it will get diluted by milk. Add a mug’s worth of milk and simmer until warm. Strain into 2 mugs and serve with sugar. You’ll undoubtedly develop your own favorite spice blend after you play around for a while, but chai almost always has a dominant flavor of cardamom. I get my spices cheaply from ethnic markets, whole-food/health-food places that sell them in bulk, or from the
I have always simply made a homemade concentrate *somewhat* similar to mrmojoflying’s above, though I make a far larger batch and without adding milk right away so as to prolong refrigerator shelf life. I am going to apologize ahead for the lack of exact measurements–I am not someone who measures as I cook, which is great in a way but is not conducive to conveying recipes online. The spices and amounts you add, too, will be based on personal preference and trial and error. I think every batch of chai is unique to the maker. I start with about 6-8 cups of water–however much my final container will hold, plus a cup or so to account for evaporation. To that I add my whole spices: some cardamom (black works fine–it has a darker, smokier flavor than the pungent green; just don’t forget to crack the pods of either one you get!), a couple cinnamon sticks, several whole black peppercorns, cloves
