I love coffee, but I don't drink it very often because it makes me too jittery, so my alternative choice of morning beverage lately is an iced chai latte. The coffee shop version is pretty expensive, so I've been making my own at home with this boxed concentrate from Tazo. When blended with milk and ice, it's tasty, quick and easy to grab on my way out the door. However, I've been experimenting with ways to make a "punchier" homemade version with a spicy, warm kick and packed with enough bold flavor to wake me up in the morning.
So, I did a quick search online to see if any recipes caught my eye. I learned a few things about chai in my search for this recipe. First off, the word "chai" just means tea. I'm guilty of calling my beverage "chai tea", which is redundant. The proper term when referring to this spicy concoction is actually "masala chai", which means spiced tea. After reading through a few recipes, I found this one from The Hathi Cooks blog that looked like it might fit the bill. Besides the title "How to Make [the best] Chai [ever]", the introduction describing the origin of masala chai in India was intriguing. And knowing that the recipe has been passed down for many generations of the author's family makes it very special. The author includes a scientific tidbit about how the flavor molecules/aromatic compounds dissolve best in alcohols or fats. The fattier the milk, the more flavorful the chai will be.
With recipe in hand, I made a trip last weekend to my favorite source for spices, a local Indian market. Luckily, there are quite a few of these stores nearby and they are great sources for getting spices in bulk. I can generally find a much larger amount for a lower price and possibly fresher (due to higher turnover of inventory) than a small jar of the same at a regular supermarket. For instance, a small jar of 1.1 oz ground nutmeg at the supermarket sells for $4.69. I found a 3.5 oz bag for $3.49 at the Indian market. A small container of whole cloves at the supermarket costs $4.86 for .62 oz. I found 3.5 oz. of whole cloves at the Indian market for $2.49, so there's a tremendous savings if you have access to one of these stores. If I have more than I can use, I can always share the extra spices with my baker friends. If you're unable to find an ethnic market nearby, try the bulk spice section of a whole or natural food store, or search online.
Once I arrived home from the store, I set to work grinding the whole spices in a coffee grinder (reserved for the sole purpose of grinding spices; don't grind coffee in a grinder that you've used for spices, unless you like pepper-flavored coffee!). I've heard it's better to grind whole spices as you need them, rather than using pre-ground spices. The grinding process tends to release more of the natural oils which means bonus flavor! Shelf life is considerably less for ground spices, as they tend to deteriorate faster than their whole counterparts. Let me just say that my kitchen smelled Ah-mazing after all of the grinding. I did not use the full spice amounts suggested in the recipe. The author calls for using entire CUPS of spices and the recipe makes a huge amount even by making 1/5th of the recipe as is suggested in the recipe instructions. I also used the suggested method of weighing the spices on a food scale (I found an inexpensive one at Walmart) as it is more accurate for measuring whole spices.
Now for the recipes:
(Note: I've included the recipe for the spice/masala mixture as well as a recipe for making the actual tea. The amounts below are 1/5 of the amounts listed in the full recipe; At this time, I only have the amounts in grams since I used a food scale; as I further refine the recipe later, I'll probably convert the measurements over to Tablespoons or teaspoons for pre-ground spices, since those tend to be more accessible.)
Chai Masala/Spice Ingredients (from THE HATHI COOKS REcipe):
- 32 g. whole black peppercorns (or finely ground, same weight)
- 25 g. ginger powder
- 10 g. cinnamon sticks (or finely ground, same weight)
- 10 g. whole cardamom seeds (or finely ground, same weight); I crushed green cardamom pods and ground up the seeds that are inside the pods.
- 1 g. whole cloves (or finely ground, same weight)
- 1 g. nutmeg (or finely ground, same weight)
- optional: 1 whole star anise (ground); this adds a hint of licorice flavor found in some chai recipes. It was not included in the original Hathi Cooks recipe, but I added to mine.
Instructions: Weigh the spices, and if using whole spices, grind them to a fine powder. Mix all of the spices together and store in an airtight container. Keep out of direct heat/sunlight.
Tea / Chai Ingredients (I modified this from the Hathi Cooks recipe for my own taste):
- 4 cups water
- 2 tsp. Chai Masala/Spice mix from recipe above
- 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
- 4 tsp. loose leaf black tea (I used one called Taj Mahal - see photo below, but Lipton also makes a Yellow Label tea that would work.)
- Milk (added to taste)
Instructions: Bring the water, spice mixture, sugar and black tea to a boil. Remove from heat and allow it to steep for 3-4 minutes. Using a french press or fine cheesecloth, strain into a container. Mix in 1/2 cup of the tea mixture with a bit of milk to taste. I like my tea pretty spicy, so I tend to add a bit more concentrate versus milk. Serve warm or with ice.
Additional notes:
I made a concentrate using the tea recipe above (minus the milk) and kept that in the fridge for the week. Each morning, I would pour a bit of the concentrate into a glass of ice and add milk for my morning commute. The spice mixture can be tweaked as desired. If too spicy, just reduce the amount of black pepper or ginger. If the licorice flavor is overpowering, just remove the star anise. The recipe was pretty tasty to start, but I will likely continue to refine the spice mixture as I have time in my ongoing quest for the perfect Masala Chai latte.
If you find yourself with too much of the spice mixture on hand, you can always use it on toast, sprinkle on apple slices or add to any baked goods calling for pumpkin pie spice for a delicious twist.
