Spiced chai concentrate
With temperatures in the single digits and the seemingly endless snow, I鈥檓 loving hot drinks these days. While I enjoy coffee and tea daily, occasionally I like to indulge in something fun, like a Chai Latte. But Sharon and I both agree that the chai concentrate you get at chain coffee shops and at the store are often too sweet for our taste. I鈥檓 more interested in the warm, spicy flavors anyway.
I recently posted this recipe for Spiced Chai Concentrate on and everyone loved it, so I wanted to share it with you all (just in case you missed it over there). Like me, they didn鈥檛 realize how easy it was! You probably already have a lot of the ingredients and it鈥檚 done in less than 30 minutes.
Just to address some of the questions people had in the comments section on Tasty Kitchen. You can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, probably even longer. You can add the chai concentrate to milk, soy and almond milk and I bet it would be great added to plain yogurt or vanilla ice cream. One person even suggested making ice cubes out of it鈥�YUM! And yes, I鈥檝e been to India. I actually spent several months there 鈥� so I know this is not 鈥渞eal鈥� chai, but I love it anyway!
Spiced chai concentrate
For step-by-step photos of this recipe, head over to and check out my guest post. Here is the basic recipe which was submitted by Tasty Kitchen member, . We doubled the cinnamon and halved the sugar, but you can increase or reduce the quantities of any ingredients depending on your taste.
4-1/2 cups water
1 stick cinnamon
1 piece fresh ginger chopped
7 whole cardamom pods
2 whole star anise pods
10 whole cloves
1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon orange zest
10 teaspoons green or black tea or 10 tea bags
2/3 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon vanilla
Bring the water to a boil. Add the spices and tea, remove from heat and let steep 15-20 minutes, depending on how strong you want it. Strain and add the brown sugar, honey, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
Mix 1 part concentrate with 1 part milk, heat and enjoy or pour over ice.
For a stronger flavor, mix 2 parts concentrate with 1 part milk or half-and-half (if you鈥檙e like me).
Maggy Keet blogs at with her mom and sister.
To see the original post, click .
--------------------------------------------------------------
海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of food bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by The Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own and they are responsible for the content of their blogs and their recipes. All readers are free to make ingredient substitutions to satisfy their dietary preferences, including not using wine (or substituting cooking wine) when a recipe calls for it. To contact us about a blogger, click here.
