A Chai Recipe

Introduction (blah blah blah)

This is approximately the recipe I use to make Chai for myself. Evolved through trial and error. This particular one was made fall 2018.

The original goal was to make something approximating thai iced tea, but this works well as a general chai, hot or cold.

This recipe makes a chai that is very sweet and very strong (just like me. heh. heh. heh.) Improvisation and adjustments to personal taste are encouraged.

This recipe is placed under the CC0 license. Use it however you wish.

I do boil the tea. If this triggers you, turn back now.

Ingredients

3 star anise pods

10 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

1/4 cups black loose leaf tea (I used something called Kenilworth)

2 quarts water

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon pure almond extract

Milk and/or half and half

Procedure

Place tea, star anise, cardamon, and cinnamon stick into a infuser.

Place water and sugar into a saucepan and bring to a boil on a stove, allowing the sugar to dissolve completely. Then place the infuser in the tea.

With the infuser still inside, boil off the tea for about 15 minutes. Add in vanill and almond extract. Transfer to a smaller saucepan if a good chunk has boiled off.

Continue boiling off tea for another 15-30 minutes to taste. The goal is to boil off 40-50% of the tea. The idea is to condense things into a very strong flavor.

This tea is intended to be served with liberal amounts of milk and cream. The flavor of the dairy combined with the sugar offsets the bitterness in the strong tea and brings out the wanted flavors.

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