It is official: I am sick of winter. I know that many, many others feel the same way as I do and many of you have had a much tougher time of if than we have here in the DC area. But, man! It has been a long one. One of the saving graces, though, has been my homemade chai. It has kept me warm and been the thing I look forward to on many a cold morning this winter.
I decided to start experimenting with making my homemade chai after my local Whole Foods started and then stopped carrying my favorite chai brand from Boulder, Colorado: Bhakti Chai. It was a brutal blow. I had been happily going along in my life, unaware of what I was missing. I thought of morning chais as a special treat that I got when I went out to Boulder, but then, suddenly, it was here and a possibility each and every day. As someone who doesn’t drink caffeine, the fact that there was a decaf drink option that was spicy and creamy was really exhilarating! And then it disappeared from the shelves and I was faced with the other brands, which I find way too sweet and not nearly spicy enough. It was devastating.
So I started experimenting with recipes and tweaked and modified and came up with a recipe that I think is almost as good as the Bhakti version. It has got a kick, it isn’t too sweet, and it is a whole lot cheaper than the boxed versions. I now make a double batch each week and store the concentrate in Ball jars so that I can have my fix every morning. I hope that this recipe can help some of you to get through these last few weeks of winter, I know I’ll be depending upon it.
- 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled (if desired) and sliced into thin rounds
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 15 whole cloves
- 8 cardamom pods (or 1 teaspoon whole cardamom seeds)
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 6 cups water
- 6 bags of black tea (decaf or caf, depending on your preference. Darjeeling is great, but I have also enjoyed it with Irish Breakfast and even Earl Grey)
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- Milk for serving (preferably whole milk, though you could also use soy, rice, or almond milk)
- Combine the ginger, black peppercorns, cloves, and cardamom in a medium-sized saucepan. With the back of a wooden spoon, smush the spices so that they are lightly crushed or bruised (this will allow more flavor to come out of them). Add the cinnamon and water.
- Bring to a boil over a high heat and then turn down to medium-low. Simmer gently, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and put the tea bags in for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags.
- Mix in the sugar.
- Strain the chai concentrate into a container to store in the refrigerator.
- When you are ready to serve, pour the chai concentrate into a mug and combine with milk, with a ratio of about ⅔ chai to ⅓ milk. Pour the mixture into a small saucepan and heat on medium-low, removing from heat right before it comes to a boil.
hi, have you tried this with honey instead of the brown sugar? thanks
Yes! Honey should work well. I would just start with a little less since honey tends to be sweeter than sugar. Let me know how it turns out!
Hi, what’s the complete brown sugar measurement? Only “¼ brown sugar” is stated above.
Hi Gwen, Thank you for pointing this out! I will fix it right away! It is 1/4 cup of brown sugar. I hope you enjoy it!
I too have fallen in love with the Bhakti chai and only one store in my area carried it in the individual glass jar servings. About a year ago they stopped carrying it as well. It’s too expensive to buy direct online so I just kinda gave up until I saw your recipe to make it myself. So excited to try this!!!! One question though, do you like it iced? Some teas work either hot or cold but some don’t. For example I love Tazo passion tea cold but not hot. Thank you!!
Yes! I love it iced! There are two ways you can enjoy it iced. The simplest way is to just mix it with your milk of choice and then throw in a couple ice cubes. The other way, if you want it to be more concentrated, is to freeze some of the chai mixture in ice cubes and then use those in place of the regular ice cubes. Either way is delicious! 🙂
This recipe has been a lifesaver. I didn’t know I liked chai until I got a Bhakti chai at a local shop, but it was nearly impossible to find. Thanks to this recipe, I don’t have to worry about trying to find the concentrate. Though, I tend to triple the recipe and steep the spices in a mesh bag meant for brewing beer in my large crockpot overnight so I have maximum ginger flavor and can just ladle off some for my morning fix. It makes this super easy recipe even easier. Thank you so much fit for going through the trouble of figuring out the ratios!
Hello!! I’m so excited to try this! The only ingredient I don’t have on hand is cinnamon sticks, but I have ground cinnamon. Do you know how much ground cinnamon would be equivalent? Also, I have loose leaf Chai. Do you think that would work as the black tea component?