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Homemade Chai Tea Concentrate

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Rate this recipe 4.6/5 (14 Votes)
Homemade Chai Tea Concentrate 1 Picture

Ingredients

  • 6 cups water
  • 1/3 cup sucanat, or rapadura, or natural sweetener of your choice
  • 2-3 ″ fresh ginger, sliced
  • 5 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 teaspoon peppercorns
  • 2 vanilla beans
  • 3 star anise
  • 15 cloves
  • 5 allspice (optional)
  • 2 teaspoons cardamom seeds
  • 5 black tea bags
  • Milk of your choice (both dairy and non-dairy milks will work)

Details

Adapted from theprairiehomestead.com

Preparation

Step 1

In a medium pot, bring the water and sweetener to a boil and simmer until the sweetener is fully dissolved.

Add all of the spices, and continue to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.

Remove the mixture from the heat, add the tea bags, and let them steep for 10 minutes.

To serve:
Mix the chai tea concentrate 1:1 with milk. Gently heat in a small saucepan until it reaches the desired temperature. Pour into your favorite mug and enjoy.

Kitchen notes:
I used sucanat, an unrefined cane sugar, in my chai tea concentrate. However, this recipe is super flexible, so feel free to play around with other ingredients. Honey will work too, although I would suggest starting off with a lesser amount to avoid overpowering the mixture.
If you like your chai tea less sweet, I would start off with 1/4 cup of sweetener instead of 1/3 cup.
I love using whole spices in this mix, but if you can’t find the whole versions, it’s generally easy to substitute the ground/powdered versions as well. If you aren’t sure about the conversion rate, try googling it (for example: “conversion rate of fresh ginger to powered ginger”)
To save yourself the step of straining out the spices, you can place them in a small muslin bag to let them simmer instead.
If you are feeling especially decadent, try adding a bit of cream or half-and-half in place of the milk. Ohhhhh boy…
Missing one of these ingredients? It’s OK! This recipe lends itself well to tweaking and adjusting.

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