blog #462 >> Chai Tea

At last! Blogger is back up! I haven't updated this blog in weeks, and of course blogger decided to shut down just when I had everything ready to post! But I realize, I need to be more patient with technology. Just think how new and amazing it really is! I mean I can actually remember a time before there even was such a thing as the Internet. We'd sit around and throw paper airplanes at each other because there was nothing else to do. I need to keep in mind, that the Internet is not always going to do exactly what I want it to do, when I want it to. Just think how remarkable it really is! Everything's amazing now & nobody's happy!

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Well, anyways... below is my favorite recipe for Chai tea. It's so delicious, it's like drinking a gingerbread cookie. I realize that there are about one thousand different ways to make Chai tea, and I've tired several varieties. But this is my own concoction mixed up from several different Chai tea experiments, and I think it's AMAZING! mmmm... cooking Chai from scratch makes my little apartment smell wonderful for days!

Here are the ingredients:
4 cups cold water
2 bags or 2 T. of any black tea, I like Darjeeling
6 whole cardamon pods
(this is a classic Chai tea ingredient, you can't make Chai tea
without cardamon.)
8 whole allspice
12 whole black peppercorns
(this is the secret ingredient that gives it a little bit of a bite.)
1 cinnamon stick broken in half or 1 T. crushed cinnamon stick
1 T. fresh ginger cut into chunks about the size of a pea
a generous dash of freshly grated nutmeg
(DO NOT USE GROUND SPICES! It won't turn out very good at all.)

Bring all the ingredients above to a boil and keep it at a medium boil for at least a half hour. You can boil this all day if you really wanted to. If you're boiling it more than a half hour, you'll probably need to add more water at some point. The more you boil it, the stronger the taste.
Remove from heat. Strain to remove all the spices and tea. Pour back into your pan and... Slowly add...

2-3 T. condensed milk depending on how sweet you like it
or 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream or whole milk sweetened with sugar or honey to taste.

Return to a boil and ENJOY!

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And here's a picture of the cute Jell-O poster Trina got me.
Thanks Trina! I love it!
T