Dear tea lovers
A recipe for a "chai tea concentrate" that kinda rocks my not-lots-of-time-during-the-week socks. (madhavi, turn your head away)
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
3/4 c powdered milk (I KNOW! Just stay with me)
3/4 c sugar or other appropriate sweetener
1 c hot water
Combine all the spices really well. Add to powdered milk and sugar, stir really well. Pop it all into a liquid container like a Mason jar you can properly lid. Add hot water (I used water just off the boil). Stir. Let it sit overnight and then start using it - original recipe says to use about 1 tsp of this for each mug of black tea. PSHHHHH. Don't think so! Use more like a tablespoon.
Keeps about 3 weeks in the fridge.
Now, you can also add other spices, really play with it. Ground grains of paradise would be really great, or just a pinch of ground cubeb. Or throw in a long pepper to sit in the jar after you've stirred everything in, before you pop it in the fridge. Not a cassia fan? Grind up some proper Sri Lankan cinnamon and use it. Ginger freak? Go to town. Ooh! This could be really great with something like star anise, too. And now that I'm releasing this into the wild, where the SCA cooks will see it? I expect more ideas. (Tiniest pinch musk?)
Okay, now the powdered milk. Absolutely makes no sense to me, but it works. Doesn't even have that "ew, this used to be dry; it hardly respects itself" taste. I bet powdered goat milk could be just as amazing, too, and creamier. Also, I used a sugar substitute because Meg used up all the sugar in the house trying to use up Kool-Aid because she's become a girl who thinks with her stomach, not so much with her restraint. It may or may not be just as awesome without sweetener, depending on how you take your tea and/or chai. Let me know, please, if you go that route.
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
3/4 c powdered milk (I KNOW! Just stay with me)
3/4 c sugar or other appropriate sweetener
1 c hot water
Combine all the spices really well. Add to powdered milk and sugar, stir really well. Pop it all into a liquid container like a Mason jar you can properly lid. Add hot water (I used water just off the boil). Stir. Let it sit overnight and then start using it - original recipe says to use about 1 tsp of this for each mug of black tea. PSHHHHH. Don't think so! Use more like a tablespoon.
Keeps about 3 weeks in the fridge.
Now, you can also add other spices, really play with it. Ground grains of paradise would be really great, or just a pinch of ground cubeb. Or throw in a long pepper to sit in the jar after you've stirred everything in, before you pop it in the fridge. Not a cassia fan? Grind up some proper Sri Lankan cinnamon and use it. Ginger freak? Go to town. Ooh! This could be really great with something like star anise, too. And now that I'm releasing this into the wild, where the SCA cooks will see it? I expect more ideas. (Tiniest pinch musk?)
Okay, now the powdered milk. Absolutely makes no sense to me, but it works. Doesn't even have that "ew, this used to be dry; it hardly respects itself" taste. I bet powdered goat milk could be just as amazing, too, and creamier. Also, I used a sugar substitute because Meg used up all the sugar in the house trying to use up Kool-Aid because she's become a girl who thinks with her stomach, not so much with her restraint. It may or may not be just as awesome without sweetener, depending on how you take your tea and/or chai. Let me know, please, if you go that route.