CHAI SPICE

I swear, I have never been in love with chai tea. In fact, Starbucks was the first place I tasted chai tea and it turned out to be horrifying… I said to myself I would never touch chai tea again.

Two winters ago, I visited my best friend Lizsie in New York City. At the time she was living in an apartment on the 68th floor in Central Manhattan. Her landlord were her roommates, who were an Indian couple. Every morning the husband wakes up to make his wife a cup of Chai tea, the strong
aroma would always penetrate beneath the doors, wrapping us with warmth. The smell was spicy, creamy, sweet and pungent. It wasn’t till 2 hours before my departure I got to try it.

It was the most delicious cup of tea I’ve ever drank in my life.

I kid you not, now every time I think of chai tea, my mouth literally start to water, yes, just from thinking about that chai tea.

It turned out that ingredients weren’t that difficult to find. I’ve always imagine chai tea is time-consuming and requires some sort of “skills” to make such a wonderful tea. After all, having that authentic, flavorful and exotic tea —  I wasn’t going to settle for anything less.  So I went to a local Indian store to stock up, luckily they had people who knew exactly what I wanted! That automatically added a plus for the making experience.

The thing about buying spice you have never used before was first of all, interesting to examine the shape, second, so cool explore the smell and the aroma. It is an entire experience in itself. Thank you mother earth for preparing these spice for our senses!

For the Masala mix, you’ll need the following:

1/2 cup of cardamon pods (you may crack them with knifes)
1/2 cup of cinnamon (if in stick just chopped them)
1/2 cup of black pepper
1/4 cup of gloves
1/2 cup of fresh ginger
small amount of star anise
small amount of vanilla powder

You may store these in a jar, you’ll only need about 1 teaspoon per cup. So this should last you awhile 🙂

Direction (serving for 2):

1. Add in two cups of water in a pot, turn heat to medium.
2. When it start to heat, asd in two tea bags of black tea (or two spoon of loose black tea), your choice of earl grey, assam or darjeeling
3. Mix the spice, I like to grate the ginger
4. Once its boiling, pour in 1 1/2 cup of whole milk and 2 teaspoon of sweetener (I like honey, or raw sugar)

5. Wait till it boils again, stir.
6. Turn off the heat and wait for a minute
7. Pour into the cups, using a mesh strainer to catch loose ingredients.

Share with your husband/friend/neighbor!

You can now savor your creamy, perfect, homemade CHAI!

Yes…. the chai did made my day! Interestingly, I did a quick research about this tea. These spice has an uplifting and evaluating effect on the mood. For instance, laboratory studies have found that cinnamon may reduce inflammation, fight bacteria and reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease. Cardamon can help lower high blood pressure. Clove have been used as herbal treatment for symptoms associated with diarrhea, gas, and nausea. Ginger is great to treat common cold, headaches, and painful menstrual periods. Star anise’s got rich iron and high calcium!

The whole night I dreamt about going to different places and making chai tea, though Marc did teased how mundane my dream was, I was indeed really happy whilst making my chai 🙂

Happy CHAI night!
Love,
Paye Tina