My gift to you this Winter Solstice Day is my famous and ever-evolving Ayurvedic Chai Latte recipe. Find all of the ingredients, my cooking process, and even the nutritional data below.
My husband Walter and I both love Indian chai, and we both have sought out the best cup of chai from travels in India as well as closer to home in Vancouver.
In the end, we both like this recipe best, but I encourage you to play with the ingredients and cooking process to create it to your taste. That is the Joy of cooking!
Ingredients
These ingredients will balance your Vāta, Pitta and Kapha doṣa-s. To make it less Vāta (less anxiety promoting), do replace Assam tea with rooibos.
Makes 16 cups = 2 kettles of hot water to fill a big soup pot
- whole cardamom pods – 3 T
- whole black pepper – 2 T
- cinnamon – 3" stick x 4 sticks
- cloves – ½ T
- fennel – 1 T
- 16 cups water (through the reduction process, you will lose 3+ cups of liquid)
- fresh ginger – 3“ (crushed in blender after you boil all other spices in hot water for 1 hour)
- 4+ cups of milk of your choice – Look at the colour of the chai and make it that creamy colour
- maple syrup – 1+ T (optional and to taste)
- tea – rooibos tea or Assam black tea - ¼ cup (or less with a longer steep)
Cooking Process
- Boil 16 cups of water in a big soup pot
- Add spices to boiling water and let simmer for 30-60 minutes. Longer the better!
- Add rooibos tea leaves and another 1-2 cups of water to bring to a rolling boil for another 15 minutes.
- If using caffeinated Assam tea, turn off the stove and let steep for 2-5 minutes depending on how strong you want your tea. Experts recommend 2 minutes for Assam tea.
- Strain into two 8 cup blender fulls, one at a time.
- Add ½ the ginger and pure maple syrup to sweeten (optional) to each 8-cup blender full. Repeat for the other ½ of your chai reduction.
- Now blend on high. This gives you about 3 litres of chai reduction, which I then put in glass bottles and keep for use in the fridge during the week.
- Before serving, heat 1 cup of chai with around 1/4 cup of steamed milk of choice.
- Enjoy chai daily for improved digestion and a wonderful warming treat.
*This is using coconut milk and maple syrup. If you use other milk, such as goat milk and no maple syrup, it has fewer calories/carbs.