Tea Journal · Chai and flavoured blends

What is chai, and how do you make it at home?

The word chai means tea in Hindi, Urdu, Russian, Turkish and a good part of the world, so a chai tea is a tea tea. What most of us mean by it is masala chai, the sweet, spiced, milky drink from India. It is the reason this shop is called what it is called, and it is the drink I would make for anyone who says tea is boring. Here is how it is done.

What masala chai is

Strong black tea, whole milk, sugar and a handful of spices, simmered together in a pan rather than brewed in a pot. The spices vary by family and region, but cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper are the usual five. It is drunk from small cups, often several times a day, and sold on every street corner in India by chai wallahs who make it in huge pans over a flame.

How to make it in a pan

For two cups: 200ml of water, 200ml of whole milk, two heaped teaspoons of a strong black tea, Assam or Scottish Breakfast, four green cardamom pods crushed, a thumb of fresh ginger sliced, a small stick of cinnamon, two cloves and a few black peppercorns. Sugar to taste, and it does want some.

Put the water and spices in a small pan and simmer for five minutes. Add the tea and simmer two more. Add the milk and sugar, bring it just to the boil, and let it rise up the pan once. Strain into cups. The whole thing takes ten minutes and the kitchen will smell like a festival.

Chai Nana is not that

Chai Nana is our Moroccan style mint tea, green tea and peppermint, and it is a completely different drink. Nana means mint in Arabic. In Morocco, green tea, usually Gunpowder, is brewed with fresh mint and plenty of sugar and poured from a height into small glasses, and it is the national gesture of hospitality. Ours is light and lively with a sweet minty finish and is lovely after food. Make it in a pot with boiling water, three minutes, sugar if you like it the traditional way.

Caffeine free chai

Rooibos takes spices and milk as well as black tea does, and it has no caffeine, which is why I use it as the base for my own caffeine free chai. Make it exactly as above with rooibos in place of the black tea and simmer a couple of minutes longer, since rooibos does not go bitter.

Chocolate Mint on the stove

The same pan method makes Chocolate Mint, which is a black tea with cocoa nibs and peppermint. Simmer the leaf in half water, add half milk and a spoon of honey, strain. It is like a pudding in a mug and it is how that blend is meant to be drunk.