Chai Spice Tea Recipe
I love chai.
I love its aroma.
I love this chai spice tea recipe.
I love the process of making a big batch.
I love holding a steaming mug full, and sharing it with a friend.
A few years back, a lovely self-published book called Chai Pilgrimage, was brought to my attention. The book, now sold out, is so beautiful and captures the spirit of chai culture.
I gifted the book to someone who, sadly, is no longer in my life. These things happen and we take a deep breath and go on. I didn’t buy one for myself, and truly hope that someday it will be reprinted. Until it does, I still have my favorite chai spice recipe. Today when I made it, I remember happy times from days past.
Here is the recipe for you to make and enjoy with friends.
Many blessings to you during this season of shorter days and long nights.
Love,
Kate
My Favorite Chai Tea a/k/a Big Batch House Chai #9
Ingredients
- 40 pods green cardamom
- 9 cups water
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1 tablespoons fennel seeds
- 1/2 cup fresh ginger root, grated
- 3 cups milk (or almond milk)
- a few saffron threads
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 6 teabags good quality black tea
Instructions
- Grind the cardamom pods in a spice grinder and set aside. I use an electric coffee grinder that I have wiped out well.
- Grind cinnamon and fennel seeds in a spice grinder.
- Place water in a small pot and turn heat to high.
- Add the cinnamon, fennel, and ginger to the pot, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- In a large sauce pan, place almond milk and saffron. Turn heat to medium. When the milk starts to simmer, add the sugar, and stir. Turn off heat and set aside.
- Add the tea bags and ground cardamom to the spice water. Stir once. Cover and let steep for 5 minutes.
- Using a mesh strainer, pour the spiced tea water into the almond milk. Stir and serve.
That book! It’s gorgeous. The website says 2nd edition is coming soon. I hope so.
I’m trying to figure out how I could make batches of the chai with the dry ingredients and give it as gifts in jars with instruction cards that say “just add water and milk”. It would be a wonderful holiday gift for neighbors, friends, people who drop by, et al.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Amy- One year I gave a “Chai Box” full of all the spices needed for the recipe. Each year I renewed the spices as a gift. 🙂 Kate
https://chaipilgrimage.com/products/the-book
Found it!
Yup, I saw that, too, Cynthia. It’s the link for the first edition, and neither of the links listed on the page sell copies.
There are four copies available on Amazon. Price: $3210.30! Thirty cents over my budget! 😉
Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0615901883/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1545276391&sr=8-1
One of the copies is a mere $5001.00….I guess they just had to add the extra $1.00!
I asked one of the sellers about that and was told, that they don’t actually ‘HAVE’ copies… though they would work hard to procure one. This was years ago..don’t know how they are doing it now. The fact that they will reprint it is great!
Yes, it is!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Chai-Pilgrimage-A-Soul-Nourishing-Tea-Adventure-Through-Northern-India-Shaw-P/312924483442?hash=item48dbc0af72:g:unUAAOSwdvpWC7Y0
Thanks for the link Mark. The price is a bit too much for me at this time.