Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Can anyone recommend a chai tea latte recipe that can be made at home? I am interested in using fresh spices along with tea. Not interested in using any grocery store mixes.

Sorry Janet, I do not have a recipe using fresh spices. I use the Oregon brand that is in liquid form and comes in a box. I heat it and add foamed milk and it is pretty good.
Hopefully someone will come along with a good recipe for you or you might want to peruse some Indian cooking sites.

Thanks for a reply, Ilene. When the weather turns cooler i so enjoy a chai tea latte, particularly in the afternoon..so relaxing.. I have tried some of the tea bag chai teas, which i didn't care for,. but i have never tried the liquid mix.

CI's is good and I think pretty basic. Many similar on the web too. Here it is:

Chai
Serves 4
from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups milk
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon whole cloves
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tea bags
3 cups boiling water
Instructions
1. Simmer the milk, cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom, peppercorns, and cloves in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in 1 tablespoon of the sugar until dissolved, adding the remaining sugar to taste, and strain.
2. Meanwhile, steep each tea bag in a large mug with 3/4 cup boiling water for about 5 minutes. Remove the tea bag and pour 1/3 cup of the spiced warm milk into each mug.

Janet,

Just so you know the traditional recipe for "chia" Nepali-style (I lived in Nepal for 6 months):

1 pint whole milk (buffalo milk, if you can get it)
1 pint water
1 heaping teaspoon orange pekoe tea,
preferably from Nepal/India
1/4 cup sugar (yes, really) (Americans may need to cut the sugar)
8-12 green or black cardamom pods, crushed

optional additional spices, any 1 to 3 of the below
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1-3 whole cloves
- 4-6 cracked peppercorns
- 1-3 fresh ginger slices
- 2 anise stars

Put milk, water, tea, and spices in a pot. Heat slowly (about 10 to 15 minutes) until just simmering; stir in sugar. Simmer for 3 minutes or so. Serve, ladling through a strainer to remove the spices and tea leaves.

Ivy and fuzzy, thanks for your recipes. I look forward to trying my hand at making these recipes!

Janet claire

The recipe Ivy gave is very similar to the one I use, except I add a couple points of star anise to it. I tried one recipe that had fennel, and I liked the hint of anise flavor, so that's when I started using the star anise. I noticed that was an optional spice in the one Fauzzy gave, but it seemed like a lot. Also, I never tried the black cardamom, and the 8-12 pods seemed like an awful lot, even for a qt. of tea. But, there's only one way to find out!

I make most of mine w/o milk, and drink it iced, but then, I'm an iced tea addict. I always figure the teas with spices in them (like this, and Thai tea) are to cover up the flavor of the lower quality tea, but I really like them! This and the Thai tea are better with the milk or cream in them, but i drink most of them plain.

I only put about 3 tb sugar/galllon of tea, but I sweeten it more with splenda (just found 2000 packets for $20 + S&H!)- the only artificial sweetener I can use - but I add it after it cools. I still have to have some sugar - it's not the same w/o - but these things really are better quite sweet, and that would be far too much sugar, given the amount of these teas I drink! I think recipes for Thai tea have even more sugar than that recipe for chia tea Fuzzy gave.

Well, my recipe is for Nepali tastes ... they use a LOT of spices. Also, whole cardamom pods are not that strongly flavored. Start with 6 and see how that works. Most of the time, chia was just the black tea and cardamom, without the additional spices.



Yeah, that's why I warn about it. Tea is a major source of calories in Nepal, so they add a lot of sugar; when I've made it "traditional" in the USA folks have said "it's a little ... SWEET!". So probably use less and add more after serving, if necessary.

Note that the other way Nepalis drink their tea is with yak-butter and salt.

Dave and Fuzzy, thanks for your input on the chai recipe. I will experiment with the spices, sugar, splenda, etc.. and try my hand at creating a blend
close to what I have enjoyed at the local coffee shop.

Janet

I was wondering where the yak butter was in your recipe, fuzzy.