During my senior year of college, I had the most amazing chance to sit weekly around a table with just a handful of people and a highly esteemed professor. With our papers and our prepared discussions, each Thursday one of us would take a turn bringing a big pot of homemade chai to share. This simple batch only consisted of cinnamon sticks, whole crushed cloves, whole cardamom and loose-leaf black tea. And of course, it was steeped in warm milk with a fair amount of sugar. It was absolutely delightful.
I have tried countless different chai recipes over the years, and now I’ve come to this one. Both Molly Yeh (golden milk lattes) and the Minimalist Baker (caffeine free) have some great go-to recipes in this chai category, but this one is my take. It’s admittedly a mix of them all—with that senior year chai being the start of everything. With just a hint of healthy turmeric, plenty of cardamom and cloves (like the good ol’ days), and a spicy dose of ginger, this one gets its sweetness from honey instead of white sugar. The rest of the herbs add some base notes for the fact that there is no actual black tea in this recipe, making it a lovely late-afternoon or bedtime treat.
INGredients
Spice Mix:
4 TBSP cinnamon
4 TBSP ginger
1.5 TPSP cardamom
1 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 allspice
In Preparation for an 8 oz cup:
1 tsp spice mix
A splash of boiling water (about an ounce)
Honey to taste (I like a good squeze)
Warm or cold milk (about 7 ounces)
METHOD
Add 1 tsp of spice mix, about a TBSP of honey, and about an ounce of boiling water to a cup. Stir the honey and spices into the hot water until all of the honey is disolved and the spices are evenly suspended in hot water.
Pour about 7 ounces of warm milk into the hot water mixture, for hot tea; or about 7 ounces of cold water and a handful of ice for iced tea.
