Pat Leavitt Shares Recipe for Chai

Comfort and Joy!

In the winter I like to make chai, a warming and spicy tea. It's more of an Indian chai masala than traditional Tibetan butter tea, which is made with salt and yak butter.

The six spices are: whole cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise, black peppercorns and fresh ginger. See the photo for the amounts I used to make a pot of chai for 4-6 cups. 

You can adjust the spices to your taste. I used conventional white sugar and dairy milk, but you can use any sweetener or plant milk. It's great with coconut milk for another element that blends nicely with all the spices.

Crush whole spices slightly to release flavors, and place in saucepan with 6 cups (1 ½ liters) water. Bring to low boil, stir in 2-3 TBSP sweetener, 1 ½ cups milk, and 3 bags or TBSP of black tea. Reduce heat and simmer another 10 minutes, then begin tasting to adjust. 

At this point I usually remove the cloves as they tend to get too strong flavored, but the chai can sit on low heat or in a crock pot for the duration of your tea party. Strain and serve hot!