Indian Spiced Tea

Here's a thread about this topic:

http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/food-...3500-chai.html

There are a lot of variations on spices used in Indian tea. One person's tea might be spiced completely differently than someone else's.

Indian Spiced Tea is also called chai or masala chai ("chai" means tea in several of the Indian languages). There are several national brands available, from Celestial Seasonings, Tazo, Stash, and others. Right now I have Stash Decaf Chai Spice Tea :rolleyes: teabags that contain:

• black tea (decaffeinated)
• cinnamon
• ginger root
• cinnamon flavor
• clove oil
• allspice
• clove
• nutmeg
• cardamom oil

We brew it, sometimes with additional black tea, and add milk and sweetener. Many recipes I have seen for spice tea say to steep the tea and spices (your choice) in hot milk and then strain them out. Or you can brew it like any other tea with hot water and add milk if you like.

I confess :blush: to using teabags -- my favorite being Tea India, which I haven't seen in my supermarket for many months (although they have the plain bags). Celestial Seasonings didn't seem spicy enough, it was heavy on other flavors, not the cinnamon and cardamom that I like. But it's easy to find, and you might like it.

here's a longer, older thread with many spice options
http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/food-...5165-chai.html

Cool . . . :D

I admit I'm not a fan of Chai tea (although I drink about 5 cups of tea a day) due to the clove. I had a bad experience with clove when I was younger, chomping down on three pieces of it in a slice of ham. Since then, clove is just a flavor that scares me a little...

There are so many versions of chai spices. Even in India, many use no clove in it. The basics are strong black tea with milk and some spice and . . . perhaps more sugar than most in the USA would like. My everyday tea has just green cardamom and ginger for spices.

as with many things, adapt to your tastes with whatever you've got available.....cloves are so pungent that I don't use them often.