Recipe: Masala Chai

Indian Masala Chai (mixed spice tea) is divine! When done right. If you like hot spiced drinks which my hubby does not. But I do.

Any tea shop will have a few spiced teas to sell you but I wanted to make my own spice blend. I had purchased a mix of spices but didn’t like it at all. First ingredient was black pepper. Ick! Plus it was all ground. I love the look of whole spices with my loose leaf tea. The blend I made was with spices that I like. You can customize it for yourself. Also, I didn’t measure; I just threw stuff in based on smell. This is how I cook.

With this mix, I used approximately equal part of each, but maybe a less pepper and more cinnamon. Also, you have to be careful with nutmeg because it can be toxic in large amounts. If you’re using one seed, you should be fine. Especially since you’re not ingesting the actual pieces.

I used all whole spices (not ground) of:

• Allspice 
• Green Cardamon 
• Cinnamon Sticks 
• Nutmeg 
• Cloves 
• Red Peppercorns 
• Dried Ginger Root
• Raw Cocoa Nibs 
• Vanilla Beans

I crushed it slightly in a bag with a meat tenderizer to open the flavours. The nutmeg and cinnamon sticks need more than the others.

The cocoa nibs and vanilla beans are non-traditional ingredients that I thought would be a nice touch.

You can use this with any kind of tea or try it in other spiced drinks like cider, sangria, egg nog, coffee... I find it best steeped with black tea, mixed with hot milk and sugar. I would venture to guess that one could grind this up and use for spiced cake or cookies, too.

And doesn’t it just look beautiful!?!