How do I make Chai?

There is no end to the diversity of recipes for making your own chai. Chai recipes are like Italian minestrone soup - its always good but everyone's recipe is different. Brewing chai is fun and allows you to experiment until you get it 'just right' for your personal taste. We have collected recipes from around the world to help you in your quest for the perfect 'heavenly chai'.

Chai is basically black tea brewed with selected spices and milk. Each ingredient adds subtle flavor changes and brewing methods vary widely.

Try this:

MY FAVOURITE CHAI RECIPE:::

Boil 5 minutes, then steep 10 minutes:

1 Tbsp fennel or anise seed

6 green cardamom pods

12 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1/4" ginger root, sliced thin

1/4 tsp black pepper corns

2 bay leaves

7 Cups water

Add, bring to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes:

2 Tbsp Darjeeling tea

Add:

6 Tbsp honey or brown sugar

1 Cup milk

Yum!

MASALA CHAI::::

1-1/2 cups water

1 inch stick of cinnamon

8 cardomom pods

8 whole cloves

2/3 cup milk

6 tsp. sugar (or to taste)

3 teaspoons any unperfumed loose black tea

Put 1-1/2 cups water in saucepan. Add the cinnamon, cardomom, and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. Throw in the tea leaves, cover, and turn ff the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.

Hope you enjoy it!

THE PERFECT CHAI:::

- For each cup, of chai u need about 4/5 th cup of water, u are going to lose some water in evaporation etc.. and u are going to add milk for the rest. This measure can be changed to suit your proportion of tea+milk.

- Boil the water and then pour it into the tea pot. Now ad the tea leaves, I use about 1 teaspoon/cup. - Now close the pot, and if u want to preserve the heat, close it with a sort of insulating cap u get for the pot.

- Now heat some milk separately.

- The cups can be pre-heated by rinsing with hot water.

- After the tea has brewed for 7-10 minutes, pour the tea into the cups through a strainer, add milk + sugar.

- Enjoy.

Modified Chai (doesn't need pot etc..)

- Boil the water in a regular vessel

- Turn off the gas, add chai and close the vessel with a plate so that the steam stays in

- Other steps are same

Ginger+Ilaichi chai :

- Cut some pieces of ginger, crush them with a spoon. Add it to the water when u boil it. U can also add Ilaichi (cardamom ) to add flavor.

U can try various types of tea. The best is got by mixing the so called dust tea and leaf tea. Dust adds strength, while leaf gives a distinctive flavor to it. Try Darjeeling tea, its great.

And remember tea should never be boiled, it should be brewed.

TRADITIONAL INDIAN TEA:::

First, all of these ingredient should be fresh (or as fresh as possible). You can get all these spices in Indian-american grocerry stores.

1. Brooke Bond Red label, Mamri, or Tajmahal Black tea [DO NOT USE GREEN OR LEAF TEA, IT WILL RUIN THE TASTE].

2. Cloves, cinamon stick (good quality), fresh ginger (powder or prepackaged cannot be substituted), whole black pepper, cardomon pods.

3. Optional items: White khas-khas (Indian name of a spice, which is round dried seeds); and soanph (green dried, not roasted)

4. Half-and-Half milk. No other milk can be substituted (if you really want the taste of real chai)

PREPARATION METHOD FOR 1-CUP CHAI:

In a clean deep dish container, put 3/4 cup water, 1/2 cup milk (Half-and-Half), 1 full teaspoon black tea and spices as follows.

1 pod cardomon

2 pea size fresh ginger (mulched)

1-2 big size whole black pepper

1/8 to 1/6 cinnemon stick

On a hard piece of paper, crush all of them together. Immediately put this mix in dish with water and milk. Keep them on heater plate or gas range for about 15 minutes, keep stirring continuously. Add sugar to your taste. Drain on strainer and serve in a cup.

The idea is to burn water from the tea while mixing the spices into the leftover tea. You may have to experiment with the quantity of water and milk to the final quantity of tea. In my experience, 2:1 ratio works better, i.e. I use 2 cups of (milk + water) for making one cup of chai. 1 cup of water is burned in the process. This provides smooth taste of chai.

Please note: Chai making can be fun, but you cannot cut time. I have always made the best chais and never thought of time. Belive me it is time well spent.

SPICY INDIAN TEA

(Masala=spice Chai=tea)

Ingredients:

3 - 4 Tea Spoons/4 Teabags of good tea (Darjeeling/Orange Pekoke/Lipton)

A chunk of dry ginger (or fresh ginger if dry isn't handy)

3 - 4 cardmom pods, crushed (See Note below)

3 Cloves

Small piece of cinnamon

A Tsp of SAUNF

1 or 2 whole black peppers (optional)

Sugar to taste

Milk (atleast Vitamin D, low fat won't do)

Brewing:

Bring 2 cups of water to boil (microwave or otherwise). Add all the ingredients and boil again for about 15 seconds. Let stand for a minute.

Warm milk in a pot.

Filter tea into cups.

Add milk and sugar. That's IT.

If you don't like to spend much time, mix all the spices and coarsley grind them. Boil water and add tea and a tsp of this ground spices. Rest is as above.

Note: Since cardmom is expensive, I peel them and add the skin to my stock of tea leaves. This gives a distinct aroma. Of course you boil the skin with water.

ENJOY

Try this!

CHAI MILKSHAKE:::

Mix your favorite Chai (with milk already added) to your favorite ice cream. Blend. Wahlah! A great honey-ginger milkshake.

ROMANTIC CHAI:::

Put 2 ilaichis in water.

Put one thin slice of ginger

Let it boil.

Add Taj Mahal tea

Add milk (or micorwave it separately)

Timings:

1) When it is raining. Place yourself at place from where you can see shafts of water connecting sky with earth.

Play the song or sing if you can: "Rim-jhim gire sawan..."

2) When you're snowbound. Light the fire (in fireplace) Once again watch the earth getting dressed in fresh cotton.

Enjoy

SIMPLE ONE CUP CHAI:::

I put a mug/cup of water to boil.

Add a 3/4 inch piece of ginger, crushed with a mallet to it and let the water boil a couple of minutes (to get the ginger essence in), then pour over tea-leaves (amt. depends on what tea leaves are used - I use Darjeeling and throw in one and a half heaped tsp) and let steep two mins. or until leaves are settled at the bottom of the pot.

Pour into mug add milk, sugar and enjoy!

MAKING ONE CUP GINGER CHAI:::::

1. take half cup of water in an utensil

2. put spoonful of tea leaves, crushed ginger and sugar as needed and optionally crushed cardamom into the water

3. boil the mixture for about 3-4 minute based upon how strong chai u need

4. pour half cup of milk into it

5. again boil for a few minutes

6. filter it into a cup or glass

well u can now enjoy ur cup of ginger chai

A FEW CHAI MAKING TIPS:::

*the step of boiling the whole concoction until it foams up at least once is very important. Whole milk, or half & half, is also necessary to get that good film on top.

* skim milk works best in steamers if you want foam. If you don't want cappuccino foam, 2 percent or whole milk is better.

*sweetened canned condensed milk combines rich milk and sugar.

*To make your own chai masala grind all the ingredients in a spice grinder until fine. Remove into a glass bottle & store in cool, dark place. This blend stays fresh for about 6 months.

I would like to have a Chai with Milk. Ek Pyali Chai Malai Marke

I believe you're referring to Chai Latte? If it is, here's it:

Ingredients:

-1 teaspoon of dark tea ( English breakfast )

-1 cup of low fat milk

- teaspoon of mixed spice (powdered, in a small box – cinnamon, cardomons, ginger and clove)

-Honey to sweeten

Method:

Boil with tea for a few minutes.

Add spices and boil further, remove from fire and strain.

Add warmed milk and honey. (Heat separately until froth appears)

Serve with crushed almonds.

First boil the require amount of water then add tea leaves and then after some time add some sugar .When water starts boiling much then add little amount of milk .Your tea is ready

Ingredients:Tea, Ginger root(5%),Cinnamon Bark(5%), Natural Flavour Cinnamon(5%) and you may add (5%) Vanilla Flavouring.

don't act like innocent. small children also know how to make chai. C I don't want 2 waste our times by sending u the unnessary questions.

i dont think its ur cup of tea.

Just put ,

C -then -H -now put -A- and lastly -I.

Now see its "CHAI".

do it with your hands