Original Chai Tea Recipe

Chai tea recipes are popping up everywhere. Chai has become an expensive, trendy drink in the western world. It wasn’t always like that…

The Original Chai Recipe – Masala Chai

Chai tea originates from India. In Hindi chai means tea. Masala Chai is what most of us commonly refer to as the chai tea mix.

So what is the original chai recipe? There is no easy answer to this question because several regional variations exist.

Here are the main components of the common chai recipe:

• Cardamom (or Cardamon) (6 green pods)
• Cinnamon (1 stick)
• Black Peppercorns (1/4 teaspoon)
• Clove (12)
• Star Anise (1/2 tablespoon)
• Ginger (0.25 inch, fresh, sliced thinly)
• Fennel (1/2 tablespoon)
• Milk (to taste… up to 1 cup)
• Sugar or Honey (to taste… up to 6 tablespoons)
• Water and Tea… obviously! (7 cups of water + 2 tablespoons of black tea)

You can enjoy it as sugar free chai tea or milk free chai tea, hot, warm or iced.

You can alter the recipe as much as you want. As far as milk goes, you can use condensed milk, whole milk, soy milk or even rice milk. All will nicely complement the flavour of chai tea.

As long as you maintain the spices and tea leaves, drinking chai tea will continue to provide you with some health benefits.

Benefits of Chai Tea

You can have green chai tea, black chai tea or chai tea latte (with milk). As long as you have the tea leaves, you have the regular health benefits tea has to offer. Additionally, the spices in chai add other benefits. For example, green cardamom and cloves are believed to both help with teeth and gum disease and stomach disorders. Cinnamon is supposed to help with colds as well as digestive problems.

Look up the benefits of black pepper here. You can enjoy chai tea recipes with delicious comfort food desserts.