Chai Tea

A hefty pot of chai tea is a great winter treat and we have two delicious recipes to share:

Traditional Chai

Spice ingredients for one pot of tea:

• 1/2 of a star anise star
• 10-12 whole cloves
• 6-7 whole allspice (or a pinch of ground allspice)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6-7 whole black or white peppercorns
• 1 cardamom pod opened to the seeds (or a pinch of ground cardamom)
• Pinch of nutmeg

Other ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 4-6 cups whole milk
• 2 heaping tablespoons of black tea
• Sprinkle of cinnamon

Prep and cooking:

1. In a 2-qt saucepan, add spices to 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil; remove from heat; let steep for 5-20 minutes, depending on how strong a spice flavor you want.
2. Add 4-6 cups of whole milk to the water and spices. Bring the milk and spice mixture just to a boil and remove from heat.
3. Add the tea to the milk and let steep for 5 to 10 minutes to taste. [At this point you can reheat to simmer then remove from heat. You can also now add honey to sweeten up (3 or so Tablespoons or to taste) or let others sweeten themselves]
4. Strain into a pot and serve with sprinkled cinnamon (if desired).

Spiced Pumpkin Chai

This recipe was submitted by Courtney Shuman. It puts a great healthy and seasonal slant on chai tea and is delicious!
Ingredients:

• 2 cups of coconut milk (not canned) or other milk of your choice
• 6 Tbs of fresh roasted pumpkin puree
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick
• ¼ tsp allspice
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbs raw honey

Preparation:

1. Heat up milk in a saucepan (do not boil).
2. Add 1 tea bag of your favorite black tea or red tea.
3. While steeping, add pumpkin puree and mix well.
4. Add remaining ingredients above and continue steeping for about 4 minutes.
5. Pour in mugs and add a dash of nutmeg before serving.

Photo credit: Tia Ohm