The Tea Leaves
The tea used in chai is very crucial to the final flavor of the tea. Many people assume that they have to use the best quality tea available and use whole leaf Darjeeling or Assam tea, and end up with chai that does not taste quite right. The tea for masala chai is a variety known as “mamri” or “little grain” tea. It is cheap and strong and holds its own against the strong spices in the chai. I recommend making a trip to an Indian grocery store to buy brands such as Lipton Yellow Label Tea
, Jivraj No. 9
, or Taj Mahal Tea
. If you do not have an Indian store nearby, buy Lipton or some other similarly cheap and strong black tea bags from the grocery store. This tea will probably become your “chai only” tea, as it is not necessarily the best to drink plain, but is absolutely wonderful with milk, spices, and sugar.
The Masala
Much like the recipe for garam masala, this recipe also comes from my paternal great-great grandmother and has been passed down through the generations, giving all of us some pretty incredible chai. While I am obviously biased I really do believe our masala is what makes our chai so special. The chai masala is a delicious blend of cloves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and black pepper. All of the spices add a delicious warmth to the chai, and the black pepper and ginger add a subtle heat as well. We have a specific ratio that we follow to make the spice blend, but feel free to adjust it as you deem fit. If you’d like less burn, decrease the black pepper, if you love cardamom, bump that up. The recipe is a great guideline, but feel free to change it as the seasons and your mood change!
Warning–Nerdy science note: The flavors that make spices taste delicious are all aromatic compounds. Aromatic compounds are made of molecules that contain a structure known as a benzene ring, meaning they dissolve best in alcohols or fats. You may have notices this when making drinks, that adding a twist of lemon to a martini adds significantly more flavor in a shorter amount of time than adding a twist of flavor to a glass of water. Similarly, if you make this chai with a non-fat milk, you won’t extract as many flavors from the spices as if you make it with a milk that has some fat. So do your spices a flavor, and don’t make this with skim milk. Nerdy science note done.
