Five Spice Chai Or Chai Latte, When Every Sip Is A Complement !

Photo: sonia gupta

Ingredients

1 cup Milk:

2 cups Water:

4 pods Cardamoms:

1 pod Black Cardamom:

2 pieces Cloves:

2 pieces Peppercorns:

1 small Cinnamon: piece

2 teaspoons Tea Leaves:

2 teaspoons Sugar: or to taste

Preparation

Boil water in a pan with five spices, black cardamom, green cardamom, crushed pepper corns, cinnamon & cloves (lightly crush to bring out the flavors).

Cover the pan with lid, as to my experience, there is a huge difference in the aroma of tea made covered and uncovered.

Bring the water to boil and add Tea Leaves.

I prefer brewing Taj Mahal Orange Pekoe or Brook Bond "Red Label" for my Chai's, can't beat the flavor.

Let the tea leaves brew for 4-5 minutes in boiling water.

Add 1/2 cup of milk and sugar to taste at this point & simmer for few minutes.

When the tea is done, give it a grace period of another one to two minutes with lid covered, to let the spices lose all their flavor to the chai.

Use a strainer to filter the tea into your tea cup.

Lastly, to make every sip a complement, I like to garnish the tea with crushed green cardamom, lends it a great flavor...turning milk-addicts like me into tea lovers...!