Chai Tea
This is an addiction I had in Australia. Every time I had class, either before or after, I would stop by a coffee shop called Mario’s at Glenferrie rd(one that actually sells coffee, not the type we have in Holland) to drink my favorite drink, Chai Tea. This is an Indian type of tea made with milk and plenty of spices. You drink it with honey or sugar or with soy milk at the side. I tried to make it with soy milk, regular milk, milk and water mixed and rice milk. Down under, plenty of shops sell the tea blend in different forms; there is choice between powders, dried spices or fresh chai, but in Holland I did not meet it yet, so I make it myself. People who make it themselves tend to have their own recipe; with a variety of spices you can mix and try until you find your own customized blend. The spices you can find in traditional chai tea are: cinnamon, fresh ginger, cardamom, black pepper, star anise, pepper corn but of course when we are already experimenting, try to add cloves or nutmeg as well.
If you use soy milk, the tea tends to become a little bit slimy, don’t cancel it for that, a friend of mine likes it just for that. Rice milk makes the drink sweeter by itself but kind of watery. The best option would be using whole milk or a mixture of water and milk. My favorite is the milk they cream until cloudy and foamy, but since I don’t have a professional coffee machine with a steamer at home, I have to settle for the regular milk or soy milk.
My chai tea involves,
1 teaspoon of black tea
1 cup of milk (I like regular or soy)
½ cinnamon stick
1 clove
2 cardamom pods
Pinch of nutmeg
A slice of fresh ginger
Heaps of honey, don’t be shy on the honey, chai tea should be sweet,
Slowly warm the milk with the tea and spices and leave to simmer until the tea has the desired concentration. Sift the mixture into a big mug and sweeten with honey.
