Masala Chai Tea

Masala chai tea is incredibly popular these days. Our obsession for this humble little Indian beverage probably comes from our love of cinnamon. I think Seinfeld said it best...

"Cinnamon. It should be on tables in restaurants along with salt and pepper. Anytime someone says, 'Ooh, this is so good - what's in this?' the answer invariably comes back, 'cinnamon'. Cinnamon. Again and again."

If you type into google, 'health benefits of...' cinnamon is the fourth suggestion (after ginger, green tea and honey). In the majority of coffee shops your chai will be made from a syrup or powder base, which is okay, but it's often not spicy enough for my taste. This post details a more traditional recipe, it's easy, less expensive and the use of whole spices have much greater health benefits.

This is just one of many different methods, I have read recipes that say to dry roast the spices before, but I haven't tried that. The spices and their ratios are to my taste, I suggest if you don't care for aniseed flavours skip the fennel and star anise and add a couple more cardamon pods.

Masala Chai Tea serves 1

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds

2 whole Star anise

1 Cinnamon stick

6 cloves

3 green cardamon pods

optional extras

slice of ginger

pepper corns

put all spices into pan add 1/2 cup water, bring to boil then simmer for 5-10 minutes

add

1 tsp black tea (or a tea bag)

1 cup of milk

2 tsp brown sugar or honey

allow the milk to warm up but not boil.

strain and serve, add extra sugar/honey to taste.

Low fat milk is pretty awful in this, so I suggest full fat. It will take more sugar than your normal cup of tea because the spices are so strong, I usually have about 3 tsp in my cup. It's not a diet drink by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still pretty great!