How to Make Chai Tea.
Brewing chai tea comes as second nature to some. A determining factor of keeping tea a part of daily life is finding a ritual that works best for you. Making chai tea can be daunting for those who’ve not grown up with it as a part of family life. In Australia, it’s fortunate that we’ve such a rich multi-cultural population. It means that, when it comes to tea culture, many Australians have generations of tea knowledge and practices, and these have made their way into our society, contributing to a richer tea culture beyond the British status-quo.
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Making Chai Tea (For Different Bandwidths)
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Brewing Chai Tea as Simply as Possible:
Chai tea can be made as per our standard black tea method, and served with milk and sugar.
Recommended Tea: With milk: Classic Chai, Assam Chai. Without milk: Punjabi chai.
Temperature – 90 degrees. Add a dash of cool water in the bottom of a pot or cup. This ensures once the boiling water is added, the water’s temperature will be adequately reduced to ninety degrees. Add the leaves after preparing the water.
Amount – 1 heaped tsp up to 500mls.
Time – 3 – 4 minutes is usually perfect. Ensure the leaves are removed after this time so that the brew is perfect down to the last cup poured. If you’re enjoying a chai tea black without milk, brew for 2 – 3 minutes which ensures the infusion remains smooth.
Making a Chai Latte – frothy, rich, delicious and still very quick:
A quick note on milks: We recommend soy. A significant majority of die-hard chai drinkers prefer soy as the foundation of their teas, even if they drink dairy milk elsewhere. There is simply a conducive flavour pairing between soy milk and chai tea which has been broadly accepted. That being said – you do you. But it’s worth considering the following when choosing a milk for strong teas.
The importance of a heavier milk: Milky chais (and indeed, milky teas) are best made on a milk with a good amount of fat and protein. This is because the tea requires strong brewing in order to provide good flavour within a milky beverage. However, with deliberately strong tea comes the inevitable accompaniment of tannins and acids. By using milk with a decent fat and protein content, you can employ the magic of chemistry. The proteins will essentially bind with the acids, neutralising them out of a bitter space, and fat will improve mouthfeel.
Chai Latte (One Mug – 300 – 350mls or so):
Recommended Tea: Assam Chai
Take a generously large teaspoon of tea and sit it in the bottom of the milk jug with a few inches of boiling water. This primes the tea and extracts good flavour before adding milk. Sit for 2 – 3 minutes. You want, approximately, a 40/60 split of water to milk – aiming for a little more milk than water. Top up the jug with milk and steam until frothy and you observe a rich caramel colour. Pour this through a strainer or infuser to serve. If it’s a little strong – you can always top up your mug with a bit of extra milk.
This technique is what we’ve been encouraging cafes to do for years. We developed this method ourselves, but wouldn’t be so bold to suggest we invented it. The internet landscape endlessly humbles one’s sense of originality. However, it has not been a brewing method we have seen in practice anywhere, and so have been convincing cafes to give this a try since we began introducing our tea into the hospitality scene in 2018. It is a simple and service-efficient method that is finally starting to catch on, and for that, we take some credit.
En Masse – Traditional.
Recommended Tea: Assam Chai
A large winter batch can be brewed in a slow cooker, or on a low heat stovetop with equal parts milk and water. Add 3 – 4 teaspoons to 500ml of water in the pot, and bring to a boil. Add 500ml milk, simmer breifly, then stand on a low heat for 10 – 20 minutes. This will create a beautifully luxurious and richly flavoured chai, and can be dipped into it over the day while the spices perfume the house. Top up the simmering pot with equal parts milk and water over the day. Minimal additional tea is required to maintain flavour – just an extra teaspoon for a boost, so this is a great way to get a lot of value out of your leaves. If it’s ever too strong, add a little extra milk to balance the flavour and mouthfeel to your preference.
Iced Chai Tea – A Summer Delight
Recommended Tea: With milk: Assam Chai, Classic Chai. Without milk: Punjabi Chai
Stand 3 – 4 teaspoons per litre in cool tap water overnight. By morning it will be lovely and strong. Store in the fridge and pour over ice. Often cold-brew teas are nice and strong, which means you can dilute with water to taste. This is a great way to increase how many litres of tea you yield from a single set of leaves.
Concentrate: Double the amount of tea. Dilute to taste. Roughly 1/3 – 1/2 concentrate, 1/3 – 1/2 ice and water.
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Chai provides a cozy beverage that is full bodied, rich, potentially sweet, and always heart-warming. We hope one of these brewing suggestions enables you to see winter as a seasonal herald to take full advantage of the magic of chai tea.
Learn more about our range of chai teas Here.
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