As you are reading this post today, I am happy to be snuggled up with a warm blanket at a blogging retreat in Park City, Utah. There is snow falling outside our door, good blogging friends are near, and I am happy to be nestling in for some much needed R&R.
I don’t know about you, but it seems like fall has gotten off to a busy start. Busy, busy, busy. Always a little more busy than I’d like. Always trying to work on that. I embarrassingly didn’t even realize that the leaves were changing in Kansas City until I saw it on Instagram!!
Still, the transition into fall is one of my absolute favorite times of the year, and I have been trying to take small moments during the day to pause and soak it up. I’ve learned that one of the small habits that seems to always help with this is to cozy up with a warm drink first thing in the morning or at the end of the day. There’s something about holding a steaming hot mug and then taking slow, thoughtful sips that is the essence of comfort and calm.
So today, I thought I would share with you a recipe for one of my favorite comfort drinks — homemade chai tea.
I first learned to love chai back in the day at — you guessed it — Starbucks. I instantly got hooked on the drink and all of those delicious spices, and began stopping by to order an iced chai almost every day for work. Then the $4 daily expense got a little ridiculous. So I learned to buy Tazo chai concentrate at the grocery store. Then (bonus!) I learned that it was sold even cheaper at Costco!
But after years of buying those mega 3-packs of concentrate, I began to get tired of the uber-sweetness of that brand of chai. I loved the spices, but the sugar was too much. So I finally learned how to make homemade chai.
And friends — it is so easy!!!
My version is all based around making a chai concentrate so that you can refrigerate it and keep it around for multiple batches. All you need are a handful of spices and seasonings and about 20 minutes, and then you’ll have plenty of concentrate ready to make as much hot chai or iced chai as you’d like.
But the best part is that you can totally tweak the recipe according to your taste. If you really love the sweetness of the chai you get at Starbucks, by all means, add in more sugar and/or honey. If you like yours really peppery, add in more peppercorns. If you like yours really strong or really weak, that’s the joy of concentrate — you can control exactly how much flavor you get. Bottom line, everyone has their own preferences with chai, so with a homemade recipe you can make it your own!
With the holidays coming up, I’ll also add in that this is a perfect comfort food gift to jar up and give to your chai-loving friends.
Hope you enjoy!
Homemade Chai Tea Concentrate
Ingredients
- 12 cardamom pods, gently crushed
- 8 whole black peppercorns
- 8 whole cloves
- 4- inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced
- 4 cups water
- 4 cinnamon sticks
- 3 whole allspice (optional)
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar (more or less to taste)
- 2 star anise
- 1 vanilla bean, sliced down the middle
- 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
- 4 black tea bags
Instructions
- Bring all ingredients except tea bags together to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. Pour mixture through a strainer and reserve the liquid for concentrate, and let cool to room temperature.
- Mix equal parts concentrate with water or milk to make chai tea. Or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to one week.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
To Make Hot Chai Tea:
Combine 1 part chai tea concentrate with 1 part water or milk (cow’s milk, almond milk, soy milk, etc.), and stir to combine. Heat in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering, stirring occasionally. Or heat in the microwave until simmering.
To Make Iced Chai Tea:
1 part water or milk (cow’s milk, almond milk, soy milk, etc.), and stir to combine. Serve over ice.
My only Starbucks drink was a soya chai latte and when I saw how easy it was to make, I was enthusiastic. Bought ingredients and I off I went. I love the smell it gives throughout the house.
Yes, this is amazing and thank you oh so very much for this recipe. I was not feeling well and chai always makes me feel better but I too hate the price and sweetness of the commercial brands. Also I do love a full array of spices and love how I can adjust. this blend is so good. I added more cardamom, pepper and star anise. I drank 2 cups on the spot standing in the kitchen. and another I made in to a stowaway cocktail.
Can the spices be used more than once? I LOVE chai, but have never made my own, and I really need to!
So happy with this!!
Great recipe. I’ve found that soaking the spices for several hours or overnight really pulled out all the
constituents and made it much more flavorful. I also added lemon zest which helped bring a nice fresh flavor into the concentrate. Yum
@Rich, considering there is so much cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods for just 4 cups, I was trying to figure out a way to make the flavor more concentrated. Did you just cover the spices in a few inches of water and let it sit overnight?
I love chai and I recently quit coffee… and chai tea bags are not dense enough for me. I’m gonna make this without any brown sugar… and add monkfruit sweetener per cup. Thanks for sharing this… I’m so excited to try it!
I made this with mostly ground spices. I only had whole cloves and green cardamom. Skipped the star anise because I didn’t have it in the house. I even used refrigerated ginger paste. It turned out incredible. The flavor profile is fantastic. Just try it and adjust to your liking. It was easy and absolutely worth the effort. This made a little over two cups of concentrate for me after I strained it.
It’s just called chai not chai tea. Chai means tea in hindi and urdu (indian languages) so saying chai tea would be equal to saying tea tea.
On the other hand, in English it specifically means a kind of sweetened tea with milk.
Languages are fun like that.
This is reply to “A Friendly Person”. What you described as a ‘sweetened tea with milk’ is actually not Chai / Chai Tea because not all Chai/Chai Teas are served with milk OR sweetened. You are probably thinking of “Latte” (I.e. Chai Latte). Latte does mean made with milk as the word Latte is from the French word “lait” = milk (English). I will finish with the guess that your experience with most things “latte” are prob sweetened but that is typical in the US where we over sugar everything which is opposite most countries where milk is sweet enough.
If I was trying to replicate starbucks version, how much brown sugar do you think I should add? Also should I include whole allspice?
This was deliciously spicy and not too sweet, which is the way I love chai! Thanks so much for sharing!
Wonderful, so happy you enjoyed it! :)