My daughter formed an addiction to Chai Lattes while studying on campus. I decided I could probably make a pot of tea for the price she was paying for one cup at the overpriced coffee store. Especially since latte is just Italian for milk and I can buy a half gallon of organic milk for the price of one of her store bought teas!
The ingredients are similar to other homemade Chai tea recipes, but I use a different technique that allows you to use ground spices without leaving a sludge at the bottom of your cup. I have tailored the spices to suit the tastes of my family. They prefer that I use a heavy hand with the cinnamon and a very light hand with the cloves. Adjust the spices and the sugar to your personal preferences.
The Chai Latte recipe is below, but here is a pictorial of the method I used:
In a medium sized pot, heat the milk, water, and the spices together until they begin to boil. Stir regularly to prevent the milk from scalding or forming a skin. Remove from heat as soon as the liquid begins to boil. 
Add the tea bags. Place the pot over a low heat and allow the tea bags to steep for 5 minutes. 
Place a colander over a container. Then line the colander with a thin cloth. I prefer a flour sack cloth.
Strain the tea through the thin cloth. 
Remove the tea bags and squeeze any liquid out of them. 
Return the strained tea to the pot and add the honey or sugar. Heat over a low fire until the honey or sugar is completely dissolved. Serve immediately.
- 3 cups water
- 3 cups milk
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- pinch white pepper
- 6 black tea bags (I used Lipton)
- ⅓ – ½ cup honey or sugar
- In a medium sized pot, heat the milk, water, and the spices together until they begin to boil. Stir regularly to prevent the milk from scalding or forming a skin. Remove from heat as soon as the liquid begins to boil.
- Add the tea bags. Place the pot over a low heat and allow the tea bags to steep for 5 minutes. Place a colander over a container. Then line the colander with a thin cloth.
- Strain the tea through the thin cloth.
- Remove the tea bags and squeeze any liquid out of them.
- Return the strained tea to the pot and add the honey or sugar. Heat over a low fire until the honey or sugar is completely dissolved. Serve immediately.
Feel free to share a link to your favorite homemade coffee, teas, and cocoas. Warm drinks are consumed in large quantities at our house in the winter!
That sounds lovely and I have all those ingredients already. I sure hope to make this soon.
Sounds great! I'm thinking Christmas morning!
Great technique Alea, and a pot of this on Christmas morning would be a nice substitute for those non-coffee people. Thanks.
Yum! This is perfect for this time of year. And I love homemade chai too – which reminds me I haven't had any all season! Ack! I'm seriously missing out!
Your Chai Tea sounds delicious, and I like the idea of being able to adjust the seasonings to taste as well.
wonderful!
Do you think it would be ok to freeze these so they last longer?
I am not sure. I think they should be fine, but you may have to whisk vigorously if the milk and honey have separated.
I love the simplicity of this recipe. I did not have a towel or cheese cloth I could strain with so I used coffee filters, just requires a little more work. Also, I didn’t have cardamom so I used ground allspice. I also didn’t have white pepper so I used a small pinch of coriander. I used 4 chai tea bags. LOVE IT! It was a bit strong for me so I added a teaspoon of vanilla syrup. That made all the difference in the world!
So did you compare your costs per “campus size” cup? Should be a great deal!
I confess I inhabit the middle ground on chai tea; Trader Joes do a powder mix which is pretty good, especially when frothed up with a little battery powered whizzer. But I like the look of the other chai recipes which are linked from this page!
What a smart way to save money!
What a great idea! I can’t wait to try this.