Chai Tea from Scratch

No coffee creamer or instant tea here. Wait until you catch the aroma of this wafting through your house! Adapted from several online sources with inspiration most notably from my own spice stash, but also from the side box of Yogi tea, and chaitearecipes.com, etc. Be sure the milk or milk substitute you use is very fresh!

• Ready In: 40 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2  cups  filtered water
• 1  cinnamon stick
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  minced cardamom pod, slightly crushed
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 3  whole cloves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1  inch  piece vanilla pod, split open lengthwise
• 2  star anise
• 3 -4  saffron threads
• 1⁄4 teaspoon anise seed
• 1⁄8 teaspoon  freshly ground nutmeg
• 1⁄3 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2  tablespoons  loose  black tea leaves (read *NOTE) or 2  tea bags (read *NOTE)
• 2  cups milk (soy milk is good, too) or 2  cups  rice milk (soy milk is good, too)
•  honey, for sweetening, to taste (I prefer honey to sweeten my chai but I also like cane sugar-aka Sucanat)

Directions

1. *NOTE: Any number of black tea varieties can be used in this recipe: Ceylon Orange Pekoe, Darjeeling, English Breakfast, Earl Grey, etc. You'll have to try several types of tea to find out which you prefer.
2. Pour the water into a heavy bottomed pan. Add the spices and tea bags (or loose tea placed in a tea infuser or muslin cloth).
3. Bring to a boil, partially cover pan and simmer about 20 minutes to allow spices to intensify.
4. Add the milk or milk substitute and heat through WITHOUT boiling until hot.
5. Pour chai tea through a strainer into tea cups. Add sweetener of choice if desired.
6. Sit, sip, close your eyes, relax, enjoy!
7. Servings are estimated.