Recipe - Chai Tea

I have to credit Savory Spice Shop for this recipe as it was labeled on the side of my bottle of chai spices from them which contains crystalized ginger nibs, Saigon cinnamon chips, green cardamom pods, star anise, cloves, black peppercorns, and bay leaves. Duc absolutely adores chai but had never asked for any; to surprise him, I brewed up a batch using this recipe and created an instant hit. It's actually much simpler than I expected so I hope you can make use of it yourself as well.


Step 1: Ingredients (yields 8 cups)

• 6 cups water
• 4 Tbsps Chai Spices
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 Tbsps Darjeeling black tea (~6 tea ags)
• 4 Tbsps honey

Step 2: Steeping the spices
Easy enough! You can either add the chai spices to a muslin bag or strain them out later. Bring water and the spices to a boil, reduce, and then simmer for approximately five minutes. Remove from heat and cover the top to let it steep for an additional 10 minutes. Next, add milk and bring up to just before boiling.

Step 3: Finishing
Add in your tea bags and honey to the batch. Remove from heat but cover the pot again. Steep for five minutes and then strain everything out before serving. If you steep much longer, you may draw out the bitterness in the black tea so make sure to keep on track once you have the tea in. Enjoy! I also like to sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top.


Photography by Duc Duong.