Chai (from scratch)

Chai is one of my favorite drinks in the fall and winter months. It’s warm, comforting, and perfectly spiced. I’ve tried a lot of premixed chai you can get from the store but nothing ever compared to the chai I would have when I would visit my Pakistani friend in my college days. Something about it was just better, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but now I can understand that using fresh spices really makes a huge difference.

So after years of making chai for myself, I found this to be the recipe I enjoy most.

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Serves: 4

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Whole Milk

• 2 Cups Water

• 6 Cloves

• 6 Cardamom Pods

• Cinnamon Stick

• 1 tbsp Fresh Ginger

• 0.5 cup Loose Black Tea

• Granulated Sugar (to taste)

Instructions

• Start by getting a small pot, fill with the water and bring to a boil.

• While waiting for the water to boil, place the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, in a mortar & pestle and grind until coarse.

• Use a spoon to scrape the skin off of the ginger, mince, and add to the mortar & pestle. Pound until the ginger has flattened and released its oils.

• Add everything in the mortar into the boiling water and let it ride for a few minutes.

• Add the black tea to the water and continue boiling for 2 minutes then pour in the whole milk and stir well.

• Drop to a simmer and let it ride until the tea starts to rise and boil over. When this happens, remove from the heat and stir.

• Add as much sugar as you like and stir until it is all dissolved into the tea.

• Pour the tea through a fine mesh strainer to separate the tea from the spices and tea leaves.

• Finally, aerate the tea by pouring it back and forth between two cups a few times and serve.