Chai Tea

It is impossible for me to open my jar of green cardamom pods without thinking about chai tea. When traveling in India, chai tea was a constant treat. The smell of cardamom brings back good memories of that trip.

I started making chai tea at home a few years ago. I was inspired to try my own by finding three recipes for chai from Vikram & Meeru Vij in the back of a book by my idol, Ari Weinzweig. "Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating" is exactly what it says it is. A wonderful book for people who love to learn about food, it's history, and the best foods available today.

The tea that is recommended in the chai recipes is Barry's Irish tea. This tea became my favourite drinking tea after I first bought it for the chai. Ari goes into detail about what makes real British and Irish teas different. It seems Ari was looking for a tea that visitors from the UK would appreciate when they were visiting Zingerman's Deli. He kept trying better and more expensive teas and they would never be happy with the results, usually saying that it was too weak. Finally, he was tipped off that what he was looking for was "CTC" tea. CTC stands for "crush-tear-curl" and refers to the way the tea leaves are processed by a machine. This type of tea has the "mouth-feel" that people in the UK insist on. The texture of the tea could be described as "creamy" and it really gives you a substantial cup of tea.

Needless to say, I found this information very interesting as I had enjoyed many delicious cups of tea while visiting England and I could never understand why brewing a cup of tea at home in Canada just never seemed the same. It didn't take long for me to find a box of Barry's Irish Tea. In fact, I can buy it at three different places in Newmarket alone.

This recipe is a combination of my two favourite recipes for chai. You can decide what your favourite spice combinations are by experimenting. This afternoon I made the exact recipe from Ari's book for "Strong Spiced Chai" but I realized there was something missing from my favourite brew. I forgot to throw in a piece of fresh ginger. Neither of the recipes that I like even call for ginger but I tried it and liked it and now it seems a little drab without it. I also prefer using honey but feel free to use sugar instead.

Chai Tea

2 1/2 c. cold water
2 tea bags, preferably Barry's Irish Tea or other CTC tea
2-3 T. honey (to your taste), or 2 T. white sugar
10 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed but no need to destroy the shell
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out for another use (I used the vanilla seeds in shortbread cookies)
2 4-inch pieces cinnamon
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut in half
3 whole cloves
1/4 t. fennel seeds (optional but I like the slight licorice taste)
2 c. milk

Put all of the ingredients into a heavy-bottomed pot, except the milk. Bring the ingredients to a boil for 3 minutes and add the milk. Mix well and bring back to a boil. Remove from heat and strain chai into a tea pot or straight into mugs.

*I like to strain my chai into a tea pot. That way, I can put it into the fridge in the tea pot and just pour myself a cup whenever the mood strikes. Heat it up either on the stove or in the microwave.

*If you don't have one or two of the spices above, you can still make chai. As long as you have cinnamon and cardamom pods, you have the start of a delicious cup of chai. There are a lot of packaged chai drink mixes/syrups out there but I think once you see how easy it is to make your own, you will forget about the rest.