Shall We Begin With A Drink?

Some friends of ours just bought a coffee maker. Big deal. Actually, it is. They didn’t buy it at the big box retailer on the south end of town here. She got it from the manufacturer, I don’t know who, but I know how much.

Nine Hundred Dollars.

I need one. I need to make coffee-shop coffee. I need to hear the swirling jet stream of mechanized air piercing hot milk. I need froth. I need…

Chai.

What is Chai? Actually, it isn’t coffee at all, but everyone I know buys cup after venti cup of Chai Latte at any number of coffee shops every day. How much do they spend? Eventually, enough to buy the next franchise. But you don’t have to. I decided to try chai at home, and to my not so huge surprise, I don’t need the above-mentioned device. In fact, I made it in my grandmothers aluminum, wood-handled, four cup dipper. On the electric stove.

Chai is the word for tea, but Masala Chai (or as we’ve been taught to call it, Chai Latte) is all about the spices of India…cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper. Mixed with black tea, sugar, and milk, it becomes a fragrant cup of warmth like none other.

It’s a fairly simple process. Just make a spice mixture to have on hand. Try this simple one first:

1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
½ to ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground black pepper



Mix thoroughly, and store in a tightly lidded glass jar with your other spices, which should of course be in a cool, dark place, not on the back of the electric stove.

First, preheat your teacups, as the Chai will cool all too quickly in a cold cup. Nothing worse than Chold Chai.
To bring forth the drink, combine in a saucepan and bring to boil:

½ C water
2 teaspoons sugar (I always use turbinado or natural sugar, not the white stuff)
2 teaspoons Darjeeling tea leaves
1/8 teaspoon Spice Mixture, or more for a little extra flavor, after all, this IS about the spice!
1 cup milk
Simmer about 5 minutes, less for less tea flavor, more for more, but not too much or it will become bitter. Then add the milk and bring back to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Try not to forget to turn down the heat, or the milk will of course boil up into a foamy mess all over the place. After the first few times, you’ll remember. Just simmer. In this photo, we're about a millisecond from the point of no return.





Pour the mixture through a fine strainer, either into the cups, or into a large measuring cup to make pouring into the teacups a little easier.



It’s good, isn’t it?

Now get creative and try other spices like cumin, coriander, allspice, or stir it up with a cinnamon stick. Try green tea, Assam, or Ceylon. Use good tea and fresh spices, and you won’t be disappointed! Nine Hundred Dollars not needed.