Spiced Chai Concentrate {and a giveaway!}
If you’ve read my blog or any length of time, you are probably well aware that we love chai tea in our house. (If you haven’t tried the chai cupcakes, you really need to!) We drink tea fairly frequently and vanilla chai is almost always the tea of choice. Mike loves chai tea just as much as I do, and when I ran across this recipe for a spiced chai concentrate, I knew I would be making it as soon as possible. I’m so glad I did because I love this stuff! The concentrate is made by steeping tea with a variety of of spices and adding sugar and honey for sweetness. To drink it, just mix the concentrate in equal ratios with milk, and either heat in the microwave or serve cold, over ice. It tastes amazing and it’s not nearly as hard to make as it sounds. It takes about 5 minutes of hands on time, and then you’ve got chai concentrate in your fridge for future use. It’s quicker, easier and cheaper than running to your local coffee shop, and honestly, I think it tastes better than the coffee shop chai. Best of all, by adjusting the spices and sweetness, you can customize the taste according to your preference. Mike and I both loved this version of chai tea – it’s something special and different that really brightens up our morning tea routine.
{Scroll Down for the Giveaway}
Spiced Chai Concentrate
Ingredients:
4-½ cups Water
1 stick Cinnamon
1 piece Fresh Ginger Chopped
7 whole Cardamom Pods
1 whole Star Anise Pods
10 whole Cloves
¼ teaspoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper
½ teaspoons Freshly-ground Nutmeg
1 teaspoon Orange Zest
10 teaspoons Green Or Black Tea Or 10 Tea Bags
1/2 cups Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Honey
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
Directions:
Bring the water to a boil. Add the spices and tea, remove from heat and let steep 15-20 minutes, depending on how strong you want it. Strain and add the brown sugar, honey, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
Mix 1 part concentrate with 1 part milk, heat and enjoy or pour over ice.
adapted from Tasty Kitchen
***GIVEAWAY***
[Note: This Giveaway is now closed. The winner, according to random.org, was Stephanie, comment 75. Congratulations!]
I’ve never mentioned it on here, but my Sunday School teacher’s wife owns a spice business – Cherry Valley Spice Company! I love to talk spices and cooking with her, and a few times she’s come to my rescue with some obscure, hard to find spices. We’ve been discussing the idea of a giveaway on the blog, and she was kind enough to offer the spices to make this chai concentrate! I know that sometimes the whole, unground versions of spices can be hard to find, and you don’t want to invest in a ton of bulk spices if you don’t even know if you’ll like what you’re making. But Cherry Valley Spice Company is offering to give away enough spices that the winner can make their own chai concentrate! {This incluces cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, whole cloves, star anise pods and a fresh nutmeg!} I used Cherry Valley spices for my version, and the end result was wonderful! I could tell that the spices were fresh and strong. 🙂
To enter, visit Cherry Valley Spice and leave a comment on this post letting me know what spice you would most want to buy! Contest ends Saturday, October 15th at midnight.
*Cherry Valley Spice provided me with spices for this recipe and is providing the giveaway. All opinions are my own. The owner is a good friend of mine, but I really do like the spices. 🙂