I also love Chai (Starbucks)! Someone shared a knockoff recipe with me that I tried and found to be very close to the one I love. I can't seem to find the recipe right this moment (it's a pdf), but if I do I will post it for you. Yes, it has caffeine, because you start with black pekoe tea. I really liked the recipe, but only made it twice for several reasons. It made a good size batch and it does call for cream or half and half, and I was tempted to drink more than I should because it tasted so good. And I really don't need that many calories. It also used lots of spices and you had to strain it before drinking. The spices are such a fine powder that my little sieve just clogged up and it took forever.

I'll take another look for the recipe.

From my "Epicurean Kitchen Garden" class, "Indian Recipes":

Chai

Tea is a staple beverage throughout India. It is generally prepared as masala chai, tea with a mixture of spices such as cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger boiled with milk (usually half-and-half and sometimes coconut milk, especially in Southeast Asia).

MASALA Chai for 20-24 servings
This makes 5-6 quarts of chai, 20+ servings.

Ingredients

3 1/2 ounces mixed whole chai spices
[see Chai spice recipe below]
1 1/2 ounces black tea (about 1/2 cup), or 2 ounces rooibos
3-4 quarts water
1 1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions

Brew and strain, stir in:

2 quarts whole milk, scalded

Serve hot or iced.

Chai spice recipe

For best results, use whole or broken spices, not ground.

To make 3 1/2 ounces, start with about an ounce of shelled green or black cardamom and a half ounce of cinnamon bark.

Use some clove and ginger, and make up the weight from your favorites from this list:

Allspice, cracked
Black pepper, cracked
Cardamom, hulled
Cinnamon
Cloves
Coriander seed
Ginger
Mace and Nutmeg
Star anise
Fennel
Bay leaf

MASALA chai -- Makes about 2 (small) cups. Scale it up for more:

1-1/2 cups water
1 inch stick cinnamon
8 whole cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
2/3 cup milk
6 tsp sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any un-perfumed loose black tea

Directions

Put 1-1/2 cups water in saucepan.

Add the cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again.

Throw in the tea leaves, cover, and turn ff the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.

Eight cups of chai:

Boil 5 minutes, then steep 10 minutes:

1 Tbs fennel or anise seed
6 whole green cardamom pods
12 whole cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1/4-inch slice ginger root, sliced thin
1/4 tsp black pepper corns
2 whole bay leaves
7 cups water

Add, bring to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes:

2 Tbs Darjeeling tea

Add:

6 Tbs honey or brown sugar
1 cup milk

1-Cup Chai

Ingredients

Brooke Bond Red label, Mamri, or Tajmahal Black tea [do not use green or leaf tea, it will ruin the taste]

Cloves, cinnamon stick (good quality), fresh ginger (powder or prepackaged cannot be substituted), whole black pepper, cardamom pods.

Optional items: White khas-khas (Indian name of a spice, which is round dried seeds); and soanph (green dried, not roasted)

Half-and-Half milk. No other milk can be substituted (if you really want the taste of real chai)

Directions:

In a clean deep container, put 3/4 cup water, 1/2 cup milk (Half-and-Half), 1 full teaspoon black tea and spices as follows.

1 pod cardamom
2 pea size fresh ginger (minced)
1-2 whole whole black pepper
1/8 to 1/6 stick cinnamon

On a hard piece of paper, crush all of them together.

Immediately put this mix in dish with water and milk. Keep them on low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring continuously.

Add sugar to your taste. Drain on strainer and serve in a cup.

Joe

Linda, Ashley likes this one, I couldn't tell you because I don't like sweet tea, LOL, but she slugs the stuff down at an alarming rate. It didn't take her long at the coffee shop before she asked me to try to make some.

Chai

SERVINGS: 4

2 cups water
2 individual tea bags
1 cinnamon stick
6 cardamom seeds, crushed
1 whole clove
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2-1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
Sweetened whipped cream, ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks, optional

In a small saucepan, combine the first six ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in milk. Return to a boil; boil for 1 minute, then strain. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Pour into mugs. Top each with whipped cream, cinnamon and a cinnamon stick if desired. Yield: 4 servings.

Annie

MMMM, thanks! There are some good options here to try!

Doona, I hear ya about the calorie count! It is so good I could drink a gallon! LOL

Linda

I make my own chai at home sometimes. I use 2% milk, which does not have the creaminess of real chai but not the calories either. I also make mine WAY less sweet than they serve it in the coffeehouses. That kind of chai is a rare treat for me. I also use raw sugar, I find it gives a very good taste to the chai. Tea has caffeine, but not as much as coffee. You can find decaf tea too.

I also have a recipe for a chai mix, but it uses some non-dairy instant creamer and is loaded with fat, the hydrogenated kind! It uses ground spices so you do get a spice slurry at the bottom of your cup but that's the way it is usually with the commercial chai I buy. I'll post the recipe if you want it.

You can find chai masala - tea spice mix at Indian grocers. The most expensive ingredient is cardamom but Starbucks' chai has no discernible cardamom flavor anyway. Oregon chai brand has a liquid concentrate closest to Starbucks chai. And Starbucks uses 2% milk.

I located my recipe. I was so sure that it had cream or half & half, but it doesn't. Then I remembered that I felt it didn't taste creamy enough so I was the one who thought it needed the half & half. This really did taste yummy.

Chai Tea (Starbucks knockoff)

3 cups water
3 cups milk
6-8 black tea bags
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp groung ginger

Bring water and milk to a boil. Add other ingredients, return to boil. Turn off heat and let steep for 3-5 minutes. Remove tea bags, then filter through a fine strainer.

From these ingredient lists, it sounds like pumpkin pie spice or garam masala could be used in a pinch! Has anyone tried that?

Yes, that's what my "instant" recipe calls for, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla non-dairy creamer, nonfat dry milk, and instant iced tea (no lemon). You end up with a bit of a spice slurry in the bottom of your cup. I don't make the mix anymore because I have found acceptable versions of chai tea mixes, (I like Tzazo tea) and then I just add my own hot milk, vanilla creamer and sugar to taste. I also have to limit my consumption of rich beverages like this. But here's the recipe. You can adjust the quantities to suit your own taste.

Instant Chai

1 3/4 instant tea powder (plain)
1 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
3/4 cup powderd non-dairy creamer
1 cup French vanilla flavored non-dairy creamer
5 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 cup raw sugar (turbinado sugar or whatever it is called)
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp. ground dried orange peel (optional)

Mix this all together in the food processor. Now, if only I had written on here how much for a cup of tea! I think it's one or two heaping TBLSP. I have not tried this cold. I don't think this mix would work with cold water, the ingredients wouldn't dissolve. You'd have to make it hot and then cool it down in the fridge. Might as well make the real thing with real loose leaf tea and whole spices in that situation. But in the winter this is quick and delicious.

If my memory serves me right, I seriously cut back on the non-dairy creamer and sugar in this recipe. Anyway, if you Google "instant chai recipes" you will find a gazillion similar recipes online. The basic principle ingredients are all there.

I also think you could make a highly spiced simple syrup (concentrated sugar syrup) and keep it in the fridge and use that to sweeten iced tea with milk.

My favourite chai recipe uses only cardamom for spice:

500 ml (about 1/2 quart) water
6 green cardamom pods
2-3 tbs loose black tea (use more if mild leaf less if robust), or 2-3 teabags
500 ml (about 1/2 quart) milk
sugar to taste

Bring the water to the boil. Bruise or lightly crush the cardamoms and cook in the water for 5 minutes. Add the tea leaves and cook for about 2 minutes (I prefer using tea bags - it's less messy). Add the milk. Remove from heat when the mixture boils, strain and serve with sugar to taste. If you want a more intense cardamom taste, pour the chai into a thermos flask with the cardamoms and leave it for about an hour.

For some reason I don't like cinnamon in my chai.

I LOVE drinking this! And, I've made it often. If you have an Asian market near you, they typically have a bag specifically labeled as Chai Tea with all the spices already in the mix along with the tea leaves (made in Thailand, I think). It's inexpensive - maybe $4-$5 or so for a LARGE bag that makes several large pots (maybe 1 qt. at a time X 4-5 times). Ask the owners if you can't read the label. I was told to boil it for 15 or so min. with water added to the tea mix (they interpreted the label directions for me as it wasn't in English). Strain, cool off, add sugar to your taste and chill. When ready, pour a glug in your glass and then add either half and half or evap. milk (to your taste) and stir. It's perfect & so easy when purchasing the actual Chai blend. Tastes exactly the same as when purchasing from those coffee/juice bars.

arline

Awesome recipes and options, thanks! I am going to experiment with any and all of these over the summer until I find just the right one!

And then I'll probably have to join Chai Drinkers Anonymous! heehee

Linda

Someone posted this link a while back and I saved it. Sorry, I don't remember who. It has lots of recipes and info.

Linda - I think the texture you're looking for has a lot to do with the fact that coffee shops usually steam the milk. The aeroation gives it a more creamy mouthfeel. We usually used 2% because we felt whole milk overwhelmed the spices and skim was too watery-tasting. (Most places use whole milk unless you specify differently.)

I've never tried this with chai, but I do it with cocoa: try rapidly whisking the milk as it is heating, and get it up to 140 degrees. (Acutally, I use an immersion blender, but be very very careful if you decide to do that.) It won't be exactly the same, but it's close.

Great idea, Renee! Thanks!

And thanks for the link trsinc! (hey...that rhymes!)

Linda