How To Make Indian Tea Like A Pro And Love Every Step

Indian tea (masala chai) may be the next biggest hot drink, it’s a traditional spice infused tea originated from India and one of the favourite Indian street drinks sold for as little as 50p. It does take longer to make than a normal English breakfast tea but if you have an Indian tea once, you’ll never want to go back to any other kind of tea.

1. Masala Chai

Masala means spice and chai means tea. So, if you ever find yourself in India you probably don’t want to ask for a chai tea because you’ll be asking for a tea tea and you might get a few odd looks and giggles.

This is a spiced tea which tastes similar to a chai latte (Café Nero chai lattes are the best, the Starbucks one tastes like dishwater) but with stronger flavour, however if you don’t like certain spices then you don’t have to add them in, or if you want more spices you can put those in, experiment till you find the right spices for you. You can try spices like ginger, fennel and star anise, but for this recipe I use my favourite spices like cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. If you’re not a fan of spices then you don’t have to put any in at all.

This tea is best served with an Indian biscuit called cake rusk which is sort of like a thick biscuit which is sweet and crunchy, dip this into your Indian tea and you’ll be having an amazing Indian snack. But if you want you can dip a good old rich tea biscuit in to your tea too.

And since we’re going into autumn and winter an Indian tea is perfect for these seasons, you can snuggle up with a blanket, Netflix and a big mug of chai. But for those extra warm days in summer you can always wait for the tea to cool down then put it on ice, you have the perfect homemade iced chai.

Makes: 1 cup Time to cook: 15-20 minutes

2. Ingredients:

½ a cup of boiled water

2 tea bags

1 cup milk

2 pieces of cardamom

1 small stick of cinnamon

A pinch of saffron

Sugar to taste

(If you want you can always use ground spices instead of the actual spices as a whole.)

3. Method:

1. In a saucepan put the tea bags, boiled water, all spices and sugar (I usually put one tea spoon) and leave on a high heat for around 3-5 minutes depending on how strong you want your tea to be.

2. Add the milk to the saucepan still on a high heat until the tea is boiling, this usually takes around 5 minutes. Make sure you don’t leave the tea alone during this time because when the milk boils it could go over the pan and all over your cooker.

3. Once it starts boiling turn it onto a low heat and leave to simmer for around 5-10 minutes depending on how strong you want it to be. This is also where the tea gets its colour, so by leaving it for longer it would be a richer colour and have a stronger taste. When it is cooked pour it into your favourite mug, add more sugar if you need to and enjoy.