One of my favorite drinks in the world is chai tea. The problem is, if you buy it in a mix, it often has lots of yucky additives. If you buy a chai-flavored tea, you have to decide between caffeine, no caffeine, low caffeine – or buy them all! I decided that I wanted to be able to drink a natural, healthy chai at any time of day. So, I came up with a spice mix that can be added to every type of tea! (It would probably work with coffee, too, but I haven’t tested it out yet.) Mix up a big batch, and you can have it with your black tea in the morning, your green tea in the afternoon and your rooibos after dinner. I’ve written the recipe in “parts” so that you can make as large or small a batch as you wish. 1 teaspoon = 1 part will make you a small batch to start out with.
1 part cloves
1 part dried ginger root (not powdered)
1/2 part cardamom, the hulled inner seeds (not the whole pods)
1/2 part whole allspice
4 parts cinnamon chips
Measure all the spices into an airtight container and keep close by your tea for convenience – you’ll be wanting to use this a lot!! For each cup of black or rooibos tea, place a little less than a teaspoon of the mix into a tea ball, strainer, paper or reusable bag. Steep along with the tea for 5 minutes. Add plenty of milk and sweetener (sugar is fine; stevia glycerite drops are my favorite!) For green tea, you can use even less of the mix and steep for 2-3 minutes. Sweetener is great, but skip the milk.
For a refreshing summer option: add twice the regular amount of tea & spices, steep, add your sweetener, then pour over a tall glass of ice!
*Note: If you have trouble finding any of the spices in your grocery store, there are many places you can order them online. You can try: mountain rose herbs, savory spice shop, even amazon has a decent selection.