Sounds of Silence
Quick question: What do you do when you finally get five. minutes. to yourself? For us, the answer is simple: we make ourselves a cup of tea to sip in silence. And more often than not, it’s this homemade chai tea that you’ll find in our mug during these fleeting few quiet moments. Full of warming spices—think black pepper, ginger, and cinnamon—with the perfect touch of sweet (thank you, brown sugar and vanilla), this chai tea concentrate is the ideal cup of company no matter how momentary your minute of peace may be.
What is Chai Tea?
Where do we start? “Chai” is actually the Hindi name for tea, and is itself derived from “cha” which is the Chinese word for tea. Basically, by definition, chai simply means “tea”. But what most of us have come to commonly consider chai tea is a deeply spiced and sweetened black tea cut with a fair pour of milk. Does chai have caffeine? Indeed it does. We repeat! Chai has caffeine. Our version relies on a backbone of strong black tea, though if you’re in search of a caffeine-free chai, we suppose you could swap in decaf tea bags. But then you’d miss out on that afternoon perk-up provided by a dose of strong, sweetened black tea, and who’d want that?
Chai Tea Ingredients
What’s in chai tea? Our homemade chai is fragrant with warming, wintry spices. Get ready to raid your spice drawer (or grocery store bulk bins)—here’s what you’ll need:
- Black tea
- Fresh ginger
- Orange zest
- Cinnamon stick
- Cardamom pods (seeds will do in a pinch)
- Star anise
- Whole cloves
- Black peppercorns
- Ground nutmeg
- Vanilla bean (or extract)
- Brown sugar
How to Make Chai Tea
One of our favorite things about chai tea is that it’s fully customizable. Want it spicier? Add more pepper. Too sweet? Tone down the sugar. Our chai tea recipe is totally dialed in to make and enjoy from first steep, but that doesn’t mean you can’t adjust to suit your own tastes if you’d like. It’s also an all-season sipper. We find ourselves wanting something warm and cozy on these cold, crisp mornings, so we drink it warm. But, we also enjoy it chilled, over ice, while sitting at our dining room tables, soaking in the warm, rays on these sunny, afternoons.
- Serve hot: it is a powerful soul warmer that will snug you up from head to toe.
- Serve cold: it will remind you there are warmer days ahead.
- However you drink it, our favorite recipe for a chai latte is a simple 1:1 ratio of chai tea concentrate to milk.
Dairy-Free Chai Tea Latte Alternatives
Love a good chai latte, but you don’t do dairy? We’ve got ya. Our chai tea concentrate is nondiscriminating in the milk department—it tastes delicious however you brew it. Give cow’s milk the boot in favor of these milk alternatives:
- Coconut milk. Serve it iced with a little extra honey syrup stirred in for a coconut chai latte akin to that oh-so-delicious Thai iced tea from your favorite takeout spot.
- Cashew milk. Did you know homemade cashew milk is sooooo easy to make? Soak 1 cup of cashews in near-boiling water for an hour, then blend in the Vitamix with 4 cups of cold water for several minutes. We like to add maple syrup, sea salt, and cinnamon to taste. Combine equal parts homemade cashew milk and chai tea concentrate for a super creamy dairy-free chai latte.
- Oat milk. Oat milk is totally the barista’s dairy-free darling of the moment, and we can totally taste why—it’s a great match to our chai recipe, too!
Tools to Make Our Chai Tea
- Medium saucepan. We have a glass one handed down from our grandma nearly identical to this one that we simply adore for this chai tea recipe.
- Mesh strainer. One of the most versatile tools in our kitchen.
- Favorite mug. Like this gorgeous mug from Portland-based Notary Ceramics. Because tea tastes better when sipped from a favorite drinking vessel.
It’s a Tea Party!
What would tea time be without snacks? Turn our chai tea latte recipe into a full-on fete with these nosh-worthy bites.
- A heaping scoop of quick oats and a hearty dollop of yogurt turn our Oat Scones into a decidedly “healthy” breakfast snack.
- Because Mom’s baking somehow always tastes better than your own, may we introduce you to Mom's Zucchini Bread Muffins.
- Really, we’ll eat anything on toast (not even sardines are safe), but our Almond Butter Toast With Bananas And Toasted Coconut is one of our absolute faves.
So Buzzworthy
Our black chai tea have you buzzing around the block? Show us your mugs and tag us @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy sipping!
