Authentic Chai Recipe
Makes 1 cup
Ingredients
- 4 - 5 cardamon pods
- 1/4 teaspoon of fennel seeds
- a few pinches of ground ginger (or a slice of whole ginger)
- 3 - 4 black peppercorns
- 1 or 2 sticks of cinnamon
- (One recipe I was given in India suggests adding cloves. Didn’t work for me but might for you. You could also add star anise or nutmeg.)
- 2 teaspoons of Darjeeling or Ceylon loose-leaf tea
- 3/4 cup of water + extra for evaporation
- 1/4 cup of milk
Heat your milk and water in a small pot on the stovetop.
Add the cardamon, fennel seeds, ginger, peppercorns and cinnamon. You might like to cover the pot to get it to boil faster — keep an eye on it though because it will boil over.
Once the mix begins to boil, add the tea. The longer you boil it the stronger it will be. About 5 minutes or slightly longer is ideal.
(It will also be stronger than regular tea no matter what you do because of the boiling process. I don’t advise you have this before bed!)
Let it sit off the heat for a couple of minutes, and then pour into a cup using a tea-strainer.
Enjoy!