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Masala Chai
Real, boiled chai — not a teabag in hot water
🔥 Intermediate🥤 Drink🥛 Vegetarian🕐 17 min
The difference between Indian chai and the Western "chai latte" is the method: tea, milk and spices are boiled together, not steeped. It can boil over and leave brown spots on your stove — which is why it lives here and not with the beginners.
🔥 Intermediate: Several things happening at once, or a dough to manage. It clicks the second time.
Prep5 min
Cook time12 min
Total17 min
Serves2 cups
Contains:
Milk
Refers to the recipe as written here. Store-bought ingredients may carry traces — please check the packet.
Ingredients
0 of 9✅ All set to cook!
Method
0 of 6🎉 All done — enjoy!
- Crush the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and pepper coarsely in a mortar. Crush the ginger with the flat side of a knife.
- Bring the water to a boil with the spices and ginger, and let it boil hard for 3–4 minutes. The water turns amber.
- Add the tea, boil for 2 minutes.
- Add the milk and sugar. From here on, don't walk away: chai boils over without warning.
- Bring to a boil until it rises, then immediately take it off the heat. Once it settles, boil it up again. Repeat this three or four times — this repeated rising is what makes chai thick and round.
- Strain into cups.
Tips
- Use CTC tea, not Darjeeling. Chai needs a coarse, strong tea that can survive 5 minutes of boiling without turning bitter.
- The spices go into the water, not the milk. They release far less flavor in milk.
- Boiling it up three times is the actual trick, and the reason chai from a pot tastes different than chai from a kettle.
- Vegan: barista oat milk works surprisingly well, because it can handle the boiling.
Shop the Ingredients
Everything for this recipe is available from us in Munich — in store or delivered.
