Need a new drink to warm up the body in this cold winter weather? Add some spice to the wintertime weather by making chai tea from scratch.
Ariana McEwan, a chai-drinking 18-year-old freshman psychology major, said she uses a chai tea mix because she doesn’t know how to make it from scratch.
“I love chai tea, especially during winter,” McEwan said.
However, Megan Kerry, an 18-year-old freshman environmental engineering major, knows how to make homemade chai tea. Kerry makes a batch about four to five times a week and shared her recipe with the CU Independent.
Ingredients (to make one cup of chai):
Black or Darjeeling tea
One cup of water
¼ cup of milk
One cinnamon stick
½ teaspoon of ginger powder
Two or three cloves
Three cardamoms
One teaspoon of sugar (if desired)
Step 1. Put the water, tea, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves in a pot and boil for about two minutes.
Step 2. Add the milk to the pot. Soymilk can be substituted. A ¼ cup of milk is an estimate; keep pouring the until the pot has a milky consistency.
Step 3. Let the liquid simmer for three to five minutes.
Step 4. Strain the drink into a container. The chai tea is ready! For cold chai, chill the drink in the fridge.
Chai tea can have a variety of spices added to it. According to chai-tea.org, a dash of pepper can spice it up. The Web site also suggests fennel seed, bay leaves and peppercorns. Kerry likes lots of spices in her chai.
“I love spices,” Kerry said. “I add an insane amount. Chai has a thicker quality and it’s fuller than other drinks. There is also something more comforting about it.”
Kerry drinks other teas besides chai, but she said she likes making chai the best.
“I love the process as much as I love the chai,” Kerry said. “I love to mix spices and I like how it makes the room smell.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Brigid Igoe at Brigid.igoe@colorado.edu.
