Chai is the name attributed to a specific way of preparing tea, most common in India but currently emerging as a favorite in western countries as well. Even though chai is only another way of preparing black tea, the denominative chai, as pronounced "chi" or variations of it is what tea is commonly referred to in many regions of the world. The kind of tea chai has at its base is richly flavored black tea, and while some might be tempted to try making chai with green tea, chai lovers will most fervently advise against it.
The recipe for chai varies from region to region depending on some of the spices used in its composition, but the basic recipe remains the same everywhere, and that is rich black tea, milk, various spices and sugar, honey or some other kind of sweetener. Sweetening chai is necessary in order to bring out the full flavor and robustness of the spices, but if you are calorie conscious, you can replace the sugar with an artificial, low cal sweetener. The spices to be used for chai in general are, as follows cardamom, cinnamon, fresh ginger (specialists also advise against using anything other than fresh ginger), cloves and black pepper. While there are recommended quantities for each of these spices, at the end of the day, the percentage of each spice is a matter of taste and habit, so experimenting with quantities can prove to be a lot of fun.
The preparation time of chai also differs from recipe to recipe, but traditionally prepared chai is supposed to take longer than a couple of minutes. The idea is to boil the spices and sugar for about 10 minutes or longer until some of the water evaporates, and then to pour in the milk and add the tea, after which the whole mix should be boiled for another few minutes to get full flavor. Other recipes also suggest that spices, sugar and milk should be boiled for a while in order to achieve the slightly creamy consistence of chai, but that the tea shouldn't be boiled with this mix for more than 2 minutes in order for the taste not to be compromised.
Other, quicker recipes claim that a couple of minutes of boiling the whole mixture is enough to produce good chai, even though some contest this way of preparing this drink. Other ways of preparing chai are even simpler and consist in simply picking up a chai mix from a natural foods or Indian foods store. This way is recommended for those who are not interested in experimenting with ingredients and prefer the comfort of pre-measured spice proportions in their chai.
Whichever way of preparing your chai you might choose, what matters is that it suits your taste and way of life, but make sure you try a traditionally prepared chai before setting your methods in stone, just to make sure that you aren't missing out on any part of the chai drinking experience.
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Chai is the name attributed to a specific way of preparing tea, most common in India but currently emerging as a favorite in western countries as well. Even though chai is only another way of preparing black tea, the denominative chai, as pronounced "chi" or variations of it is what tea is commonly referred to in many regions of the world. The kind of tea chai has at its base is richly flavored black tea, and while some might be tempted to try making chai with green tea, chai lovers will most fervently advise against it.
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