Chai Tea... I finally got the hang of it

Chai Recipe
Prep time: 30 minutes Yield: Makes one pot of tea.
INGREDIENTS

Spice ingredients for one pot of tea:
1/2 of a star anise star
6-10 whole cloves
6-7 whole allspice
1 heaping teaspoon of cinnamon bark (or 2 short sticks)
6-7 whole white peppercorns
1 cardamon pod opened to the seeds
1 ½ tsp grated ginger (opt)
Other ingredients:
1 cup water
4-6 cups whole milk
2 heaping tablespoons of a high quality full-bodied broad-leaf black tea (Ceylon, or English Breakfast if a broad-leaf Ceylon is not available) Sugar

METHOD
1 In a 2-qt saucepan, add spices to 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil; remove from heat; let steep for 5-20 minutes, depending on how strong a spice flavor you want.

2 Add 4-6 cups of whole milk to the water and spices. If you don’t have whole milk, you can also use non-fat or low-fat milk, just add some cream to it, a few tablespoons. Bring the milk and spice mixture just to a boil and remove from heat.

3 Add the tea to the milk and let steep for 5 to 10 minutes to taste. (Option at this point - reheat to a simmer and remove from heat.) You can add sugar at this point, or serve without sugar and let people put the amount of sugar in they want. Traditionally, sugar is added before serving.

4 Strain into a pot. Serve. Add sugar to taste.

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I will have to copy this! My son is a chai tea fanatic. He will love this-thanks!

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Wow surprised, you’re getting ambitious with the cooking and now this. Next up; some great dessert?

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Thanks!!!..!!!..!!!

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Does this taste anything like the Starbucks Chai Tea? I think that is the nastiest stuff I have ever put in my mouth. I’m not saying this isn’t good (it sounds amazing) I just want to know if you are basing this off that flavor profile.

No actually… it’s not my recipe. It’s my girlfriends recipe. Some of her family is from Tamil India and this is her contribution to my cooking education. She taught me how to make it.

Her family likes a very strong chi but she muted the cloves for me a bit because they can get a bit overly strong. But if some people like the cloves, they can add more. I really like the ginger and star anise flavor, so I end up adding a bit more of those. When I made it for just me… I also added a few props of vanilla. She likes to use real vanilla pod. I didn’t have any.

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I hate chai. But this sounds amazing. Now this I have got to try. Thank you so much for sharing J.

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