As someone who loves tea, I am always trying different tea leaves that include black, green, and white. Last year I started to add spices to make Ginger Honey Tea with a Splash of Lemon and Indian Masala Chai. I came across this recipe from the book “From Mom With Love… Complete Guide to Indian Cooking & Entertaining” by Pushpa Bhargava. You can find her book here. I was inspired by her recipe and made some modifications. I am sure you will do the same to make it your own!
It is a subtle tea with an undertone of spices. My preference is strong tea so I lean towards stronger flavor of spices. One of my favorites is Earl Grey loose tea brewed for at least 10-minutes. This tea was a little weak in flavor for me – but if I made it again I would either add more spices or boil it for a longer time.
4 to 6 Green Cardamom Pods
4 to 6 Whole Cloves
6+ Strands of Saffron, optional
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon or a Cinnamon Stick
3 cups Water
1 piece of ginger, peeled and sliced or grated
3 tsp. Loose Black Tea, like Assam, Darjeeling
1 cup Half-and-Half or Milk
4 – 6 tsp Sugar
Crush spices in mortar and pestle.
Boil water, spices, and ginger in a saucepan over high heat. The below picture is before the water started to boil so the color is weak. You can add your tea with your milk and sugar. If you like a stronger tea, you can add your tea now and let it boil with the spices allowing a more richer, deeper color. The longer your boil the spices and tea the stronger the flavor. This recipe makes a mild spice tea. I also found the saffron strands did not add any flavor so in the future I will eliminate them.
Add tea, milk, and sugar. Bring to a boil again. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 1 or 2 minutes.
Strain into a teapot.
Pour and enjoy!
Categories: Beverages, Smoothies, Teas, My Version of Indian Cooking, Starters & Finishers
Realistic Cooking Ideas 
Reblogged this on East Iz East and commented:
For the love of tea !
Thanks for reblogging. I really do adore tea! I look forward to seeing what you post on your website. 🙂
You are most welcome Bernice. I love tea aswell. And the feelings about seeing and sharing posts are totally mutual. Have a good day.
Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Bernice 🙂
I’m not a tea fan, love my coffee, but the exception is chai. This recipe looks great – especially because cardomom is included. Thanks!
Your welcome – I hope you enjoy it. Just remember this version is a mild spice tea – if you like a stronger spice flavor you will need to brew it longer or add more spices. 🙂
This looks perfect for our rainy and snowy weekend. I think I have everything already. But, what type of tea do you think would work best (probably a very silly question)? Loose tea is the one item I’d need to get in order to brew this lovely chai tea. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
That is not a silly question. There so many types of teas. I tend to use loose teas for these recipes because the tea leaves need room to expand while brewing. This recipe makes a mild spice tea. If you like a stronger, spicier tea you will want to brew it longer and perhaps add more spices. I use Decaf Assam if I am brewing at night. During the day I will use Assam, Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea, or even Darjeeling. You want a medium to strong black tea otherwise the spices will overpower the tea. Let me know if you have any other questions. I just adore tea and am happy to help you in any way I can. 🙂
Looks good! Reminds me of teh halia (ginger tea) in Singapore!
Thanks so much! I do love ginger and spicy teas!
I really love your blog. Hence I have nominated you for Super Sweet Blogging Award. You can collect it here
http://cookingwithsapana.wordpress.com/737-2/
It’s totally fine whether you chose to accept it or not; just with this nomination, I wanted to inform you that I appreciate you for your great efforts in your blog.
Thank you so much for the nomination! I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Bernice 🙂
I love spice tea but like yourself I like the spices to be strong
I will give this a try soon 🙂
Yes, I hesitated but followed the recipe as it was written. I never used saffron strands and I thought they might impart a stronger flavor. But they did not. Maybe I did not use enough. Next time I will definitely brew it longer! 🙂
I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m a HUGE fan of chai. 😉 So I’m definitely trying this recipe out! Thanks for sharing!
I never cared for milk in my tea or coffee. But the Indian Chai is an exception! Such a nice warm chai – I like to have a cup at night – so relaxing!!
I am a tea lover and this is my all time favorite!
Do you chop or grate your ginger? I have been chopping it but I heard that grating it is better when making tea. Do you have a preference?
Yes, I recommend grating! I make a slight variation of this tea on a daily basis! The only thing I don’t like in my chai is cinnamon.
Thanks for getting back to my on the ginger. I will definitely try grating the ginger next time. Yes, the cinnamon can be overpowering if you add too much. I have done that!
I’m a massive fan of tea, though I’ve not been particularly adventurous with my tastes and certainly never thought of infusing my own! Might have to try this, though as I am also a fan of strong tea I shall follow your advice to include more spices/boil for longer!
J
My Ginger Honey with a splash of Lemon is a stronger tea that you might like. Click here.
or my Indian Spice Tea which is fabulous. Click here.
Let me know how it works out! Once you start brewing your own teas you will become hooked! 🙂
Hi Bernice, may I use your last chai image on my blog? It’s burcidibollyreview.wordpress.com. I will definitely give credit and say “image courtesy of realisticcookingideas.com” Please let me know!
Hi! Yes you can use the information. I learned from other people and experimented to come up with my recipe. Enjoy! 🙂