Our delicious warm cup of chai is the perfect way to start your day. It has some great health benefits we will go into detail on below. Here's how you can make our recipe at home!
One of our favorite drinks to share here at Casa San Juan is a warm cup of Chai. Our chai is a beautiful blend of spices and black tea, which are cooked down into an essence and then combined with warm milk to serve.
Chai is the perfect drink start your morning with, and maybe even have as a replacement for your daily coffee. We love serving it to groups that come to Casa San Juan and want to share it with you so you can enjoy it at home!
The ginger and pepper in the drink have been known to improve digestion. Chai tea has also been linked to improved circulation due to, not only the black tea, but also the cinnamon and cardamom.
For this recipe we use lots of whole spices but ground spices can be used as a substitute. When using ground spices be careful and start with less. Taste as you go.
Here’s the recipe!
Ingredients:
1 liter of water
1 thumb of ginger coarsely chopped (no need to peel)
1 stick of cinnamon broken up
¼ tsp of allspice crushed
½ tsp of cardamom seeds (or crush the green pods)
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg (or ½ tsp ground nutmeg)
¼ tsp whole peppercorns
¼ tsp anise seeds
½ ounce of dried black tea
1 tsp vanilla extract or cook your milk with a vanilla bean
¼ cup brown sugar or jaggery
1 liter milk
Instructions:
-Prepare the spices using a mortar and pestle or crush them with the side of a large knife to break them up a little bit and help bring out their natural oils
- Bring the water and ginger to a boil
-Add the rest of the spices apart from the black tea, vanilla, and sugar
-Lower the flame to simmer
-Let simmer for five minutes
-Add the black tea, turn off the flame cover the pot and let steep for five minutes
-Strain the tea essence and then add the sugar (and vanilla)
-Let cool, store in the refrigerator
To serve:
-Heat the milk(with a vanilla bean)
-Heat the chai essence
-Mix half and half
Enjoy!