Ingredients
4-inch knob ginger, roughly peeled and chopped
4 cinnamon sticks
3–4 star anise
10 whole cloves
10 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
10–15 black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
5 cups water
10 teaspoon black tea leaves, contained (see notes)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- Combine all of the spices in a medium sized pot. On medium heat, dry roast the spices for 1-3 minutes, or until they’re fragrant and just beginning to turn golden.
- Pour the water in with the spices and bring the mixture to a boil for 15-20 minutes
- Turn off the heat and add in the black tea leaves, dunking a several times to steep the leaves well. Steep the black tea with the spices for 3 minutes. Be careful not to steep the tea too long, or it will be very bitter.
- After 3 minutes remove the tea leaves from the pot and add the honey.
- Stir until the honey has fully dissolved.
- Allow the spices to steep until the mixture has cooled.**
- Then strain the chai concentrate into a sanitized pitcher or large jar with a lid.
- Store it in the fridge in a sealed container up to five days, or portion into ½ cup servings and freeze (I use my silicone muffin tin to portion and freeze).
Notes
I like my chai on the flavorful side so I prefer a 2:1 ratio of chai concentrate to milk (so ½ cup chai concentrate to ¼ cup milk, for example). The concentrate can be served warmed or chilled.
You can contain your tea leaves in a bit of cheesecloth, steep them in a deep mesh strainer, or use 10 tea bags for this part of the recipe.
For an even more strongly spiced drink, leave the spices in the chai when you transfer it to your container and simply strain the mixture when you serve it. This gives the spices extra time time to infuse even more deeply into the concentrate.
