Mmm, tea I do adore drinking tea. During the winter it’s great to experiment with different flavors. Warm weather dictates ice tea. Actually, I don’t really like ice so refrigerator chilled tea is delightful. A friend of mine who is originally from Chennai, India showed me the proper way to make chai (generic word for tea). She thinks it’s hilarious when American stores declare that they have Chai Tea, why call it tea tea?
Procure whole dried cardamom pods. Measure out about two tablespoons of pods. Cut each pod lengthwise. Boil quart of water, add pods and twice as much tea as usual and let it steep. Pull out tea bags or filter out loose-leaf tea. Add sugar, stevia or honey to taste and mix in 1:3 ratio of milk (1 cup milk to three cups tea). Make sure you filter out the tea and cardamom. You can drink it hot or place it in the fridge for a couple days to drink chilled. Delicious!
I’ve tried spiced chai at a variety of coffee shops. You can always add cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg or other spices to the recipe. I’ve never liked purchased chai as much as plain old sugared cardamom tea. The fragrance of the spice masks cheap tea and it is very soothing. I actually prefer to chill the sweetened cardamom tea. I then add milk just before I consume it during the summer. That way it takes up less space in the fridge.
Spice of my heart.
Copyright © 2013 by Ima B. Musing; All rights reserved.
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