Recipe: Chai Tea Concentrate

Making a concentrate is a handy way to have a quick iced drink to enjoy “on the go” throughout the week.

I include both the half and full recipes in the directions below. When I try a new recipe, I like to try a smaller batch first to see if I like the flavors. Any of the ingredients and quantities can be adjusted to your own taste. Reference the end of this post for more details on the items with asterisks.

1/2 Quantity of Chai Concentrate

• 3 cups water

• 2T honey or equivalent sweetener of

your choice

• 1 T ginger paste**

• 3 cinnamon sticks

• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

• 1 vanilla bean (optional)

• 1 1/2 star anise

• 7 cloves

• 1/8 t allspice

• 1 t cardamom seeds

• 3 tea bags**

• Milk of your choice

• 1 pint sized Ball jar with plastic lid

• Mesh strainer

• Funnel

Instructions:

1. In a pot, bring the water and sweetener to a boil and simmer.
2. Add all of the spices, and continue to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the mixture from the heat, add the tea bags and let them steep covered for 8 minutes.
4. With the mesh strainer, funnel and Ball jar, strain out the spices and tea bags, into the Ball jar.
5. Add sweeter to the hot and freshly strained concentrate. Stir to dissolve.
6. Let the concentrate cool and store with the plastic lid in the fridge.
7. To serve: Mix the chai concentrate with milk. I like a 2:1 mixture for a stronger flavor (for example 4 oz of chai concentrate mixed with 2 oz of milk). Add ice and enjoy!

Full Quantity of Chai Concentrate

• 6 cups water

• 1/3 cup honey or equivalent

sweetener of your choice

• 2 T ginger paste**

• 6 cinnamon sticks

• 1 t peppercorns

• 2 vanilla bean pods (optional)

• 3 star anise

• 15 cloves

• 1/4 t allspice

• 2 t cardamom seeds

• 5 tea bags**

• Milk of your choice

• Quart size Ball jar with plastic lid

Instructions:

1. In a pot, bring the water and sweetener to a boil and simmer.
2. Add all of the spices, and continue to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
3. Remove the mixture from the heat, add the tea bags, and let them steep covered for 10 minutes.
4. With the mesh strainer, funnel and Ball jar, strain out the spices and tea bags. The Quart sized Ball jar will be slightly smaller then the liquid that you make so you can enjoy drinking the extra amount in your first glass of chai.

1. Add sweeter to the hot and freshly strained concentrate. Stir to dissolve.
2. Let the concentrate cool and store with the plastic lid in the fridge.

1. To serve: Mix the chai concentrate with milk. I like a 2:1 mixture for a stronger flavor (for example 4 oz of chai concentrate mixed with 2 oz of milk). Add ice and enjoy!

Notes:

**Ginger Paste – You can use 1“ to 2” of fresh ginger if you would like but I prefer to use ginger paste as it dissolves well in liquids. I have found this and all of the ingredients above (fairly cheaply) at a local multiethnic grocery store. If you like ginger and haven’t tried ginger paste before I highly recommend it. If you don’t like ginger, feel free to omit it.

**Tea bags – My favorite version of this recipe uses a decaf black vanilla tea by the brand Harney and Sons. I found it at my local Target. This tea base makes a nice option because you can enjoy the decaf concentrate in the morning or at night. The added vanilla in the tea also helps add a vanilla flavor without using the vanilla beans. You can use any tea base that you enjoy in this recipe, standard black tea, Green tea, Rooibos, etc.