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Newbie question about Chai

Since my wife loves chai lattes from Starbucks, we decided to try our hand at making our own chai mix. Found a good recipe in a coffee-table book we have. The mix seems pretty good, but I'm skeptical about the brewing method the book says to use.

It says to mix equal parts water and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then steep the tea mixture in the milk/water. Doesn't heating the milk in this way scorch it? And isn't there some chemical process that happens with the milk and tea (something about polyphenols and milk solids) that might interfere with the infusion?

Thanks for any hints about brewing the chai.

Reply to
Robert Choate
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While intrepidly exploring rec.food.drink.tea, Robert Choate rolled initiative and posted the following:

It can, which is why you have to STIR the mixture.

I've brought milk to a bubbly boil withouth scorching it. But I was stiring constantly.

Reply to
Derek

I am new to the tea scene but have discovered my family and myself love chai tea with steam milk. We have been looking for a recipe on the net but haven't found we like. We have been using Lipton's lately. Would you mind post your recipe. Thanks Terry

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Reply to
RN

I would be happy to. This is the recipe we used:

3 Tablespoons green cardamom seeds (or about 1 1/2 T powdered) 1 Tablespoon whole cloves 1 Tablespoon whole black peppercorns 2 four-inch cinnamon sticks 2 teaspoons powder ginger root

Grind the spices with a mortar and pestle, or in a coffee grinder. Toss mixture with one cup of black tea leaves.

We boiled 50/50 water and milk, removed from heat and steeped the chai mixture for five minutes. A few teaspoons of sugar made a very nice cup. The black pepper was quite strong in this recipe, so reduce to your taste if desired. I still wonder if steeping the tea in milk is proper and hope someone else can answer.

Reply to
Robert Choate

Robert Thanks for the recipe which I am going to try. Like I stated earlier we use Lipton bags. We make it by brewing the tea a usual but strong (two tea bags per cup) in sauce pan then in another cup add about 3/4 cup of steamed milk then fill the remainder with the tea with a teaspoon of sugar. I have a cappuccino machine to steam the milk which makes the milk part easier. Terry

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Reply to
RN

The recipe you included is quite interesting. I've been drinking a pre-packaged "Chai" called Original Mountain Chai, from Celestial Seasonings.

In addition to the ingredients you list below, they have roasted chicory root, nutmeg, star anise, and vanilla bean.

the order of ingredients they list is

Black tea, cinnamon, ginger root, roasted chicory root, cloves, cardamon, "natural flavors", nutmeg, black pepper, star anise, and vanilla bean.

their recommended preparation is to steep, then add the milk. I usually just heat a pan of milk and throw a few of the tea bags in at the beginning. a layer of milk film forms at the top, which I remove at the same time as removing the tea bags.

this plus honey is about as good as it gets, if you like this sort of thing.

:)

Reply to
Edward Bertsch

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