Make Your Own Chai Tea Recipe

If you love a great cup of Chai tea and are tired of over sweetened synthetic Chai from the local coffee shop why not make your own!

Ingredients

3 cups water
4 slices fresh ginger
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 (2-inch) piece cinnamon stick
1/2 star anise
4 cloves
8 cardamom pods, cracked
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 tea bags, black or Darjeeling
1 cup milk, cream or soy milk
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons golden brown sugar
freshly grated nutmeg or nutmeg powder for garnish.

Directions

It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but once you have a little stash of them in your pantry you can make your tea easily whenever you like.

Pour the water into a medium size saucepan.

Add the ginger, vanilla bean and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil.

Cover the pot so the steam doesn't escape and reduce the water, turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the anise, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns and simmer for another 15 minutes with the pot covered.

This simmering time will infuse all these wonderful spices flavor into the water.

Shut off the heat. Add the tea bags to the water and let the bags steep for 3-5 minutes.

Pour the liquid threw a mesh sieve,into a glass container, be sure to squeeze out all the juices and flavors out of the solid bits into the tea brew. You can do this by pressing down gently with the back of a spoon to.

Stir in the milk, and both sugars into the tea mixture.

Transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and heat over medium low just long enough to heat the Chai tea. Do not let it boil.

Optional: If you want to garnish, you can sprinkle a little nutmeg on to.

Serve right away.

You do not need to drink it all at once. This Chai tea can be kept refrigerated in a glass jar for up to one week. Just reheat, without boiling as you wish to drink it.