Sometimes I want to make chai just to have the rich, cozy smell fill my apartment. And when it’s this easy, that’s a perfectly good enough reason. This recipe is a fairly simple spin on the classic South Asian drink that combines black tea with a variety of spices. Although traditionally, chai is made with loose leaf tea and star anise fruit, black tea bags and anise tea bags make cheaper and equally flavorful replacements. The best part is that even if you’re short on one or two of the ingredients, the chai will still be delicious. Don’t expect this to taste anything like your average Starbucks chai tea latte. This, people, is the real deal.
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 7 minutes
Servings: 2-3
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups water
4 black tea bags (without the paper tags)
1 star anise (or 1 anise tea bag)
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4 cardamom pods
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
Photo by Kelda Baljon
Directions:
1. Boil water.
2. Crack open the cardamom pods and place into a large pot, shell included.
3. Add black tea bags (without the paper tags), star anise (or anise tea bag), cinnamon stick, and cloves into the pot.
Photo by Kelda Baljon
4. Add the hot water into the pot over high heat and boil for five minutes.
Photo by Kelda Baljon
5. Remove from the heat and strain the mixture by removing the tea bags and the spices.
Photo by Kelda Baljon
Photo by Kelda Baljon
6. Stir in the sugar.
7. Add the milk and stir again. If the milk is cold, place tea over medium heat to reheat the chai.
8. Enjoy!
Photo by Kelda Baljon