Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 4 cups of water
- 4 bags of black tea or 2 tablespoons loose black tea
- 2 cinnamon sticks or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 8–10 cardamom pods, crushed or 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 inch fresh ginger, thinly sliced or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns or 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup of honey or white sugar (feel free to leave this out if you prefer to sweeten your chai when you make it)
Instructions
- In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
- Prepare the spices and tea by crushing the whole spices like cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, and fresh ginger to release their flavors; skip this step if using ground spices.
- Use a slotted spoon to carefully add the black tea, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and black peppercorns to the boiling water. Simmer the mixture over low heat for about 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, turn off the heat and carefully strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth to remove the tea and spices.
- Stir in the honey or sugar while the mixture is still hot to dissolve it easily.
- Allow the concentrate to cool to room temperature, then store it in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to one week.
- Serve the chai concentrate by mixing it with an equal amount of milk or a milk alternative, either hot or poured over ice.
Notes
- The concentrate can be strong, so feel free to dilute it with more water or milk when serving.
- I like to use filtered water to avoid any chlorine taste in the concentrate.
- I made this concentrate less sweet than the original. If you prefer a sweet chai, increase the sugar in the recipe to ½ cup.
- Prep Time: 5 Minutes
- Cook Time: 10 Minutes
- Category: Beverage
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Copycat
- Diet: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
- Calories: 65
- Sugar: 12.5 g
- Sodium: 11.5 mg
- Fat: 0.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 16.6 g
- Fiber: 1.9 g
- Protein: 0.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg