Street-cart chai, properly kadak: black tea and whole spices boiled WITH milk, twice risen, strained from a height. The syrup-pump latte apologizes.
2 tbsp
🍵 Black Tea ›
strong, loose
2 tsp
🍵 Chai Spices ›
or: 4 crushed cardamom pods + cinnamon + 2 cloves + fresh ginger
Mise en place
Before you start
Prep checklist
Black Tea — strong, loose
Chai Spices — or: 4 crushed cardamom pods + cinnamon + 2 cloves + fresh ginger
Boil the water with spices and ginger 4 minutes; add tea for 2 more — stronger than seems wise.
Milk and sugar in; bring UP to a foaming rise, pull off, and repeat — the double rise marries and froths it.
💡
Chai is boiled with its milk, not topped with it. That's the entire difference between chai and "a chai latte."
Strain from a height into cups (aeration, and drama). Dunk something in it.
Taste before serving and adjust salt and acid — the last 30 seconds of seasoning matter more than any single ingredient.
Afterwards
Keep, reheat & pair
Storage
Best the day it's made; syrups and bases keep a week refrigerated.
Freezing
Freeze bases into cubes for instant future drinks.
Reheating
Serve as intended — hot drinks fresh, cold drinks over plenty of ice.
Make ahead
Syrups and bases keep a week refrigerated; freeze fruit for instant thick blends.
Wine pairing
This is the drink.
Beer pairing
This is the drink.
On the plate
Serve it with
Garnish
A cinnamon stick for warm drinks
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