This and that: Vanilla pod

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Homemade White Chai Concentrate

I am a big tea drinker... love tea and Chai tea especially...

I have at least once cup a day if not more often.

I have thought many times to make my own and today was the day..

Maybe because it is -40F degrees out and we have 10 feet of snow outside...

Ok maybe not -40 but at least -7F and we probably only have about 3 feet but it felt like 10 feet when I was shoveling today.

So a cup of Chai just hit the spot.

I decided that I would make my Chai with white tea instead of black.

I found a few recipes that sounded good to make a recipe.

These are the recipes that I read ~ Tasty Yummies, Tasty Kitchen and Healthful Pursuits

and this is what I came up with...

Homemade White Chai Concentrate

4 1/2 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp peppercorn

3/4 of fresh nutmeg

7 cardamom

1/4 tsp anise

1 star anise

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 in fresh ginger

1 tsp orange peel

1/2 tsp lemon peel

1 vanilla pod

8 white tea bags

1 tbsp honey

Cheesecloth and twine

Place cheesecloth on table and add peppercorn, nutmeg, cardamom, anise, ginger, nutmeg orange peel, lemon peel and vanilla pod (cut in thirds). Bring up edges of cheesecloth and tie around spices. Set aside.

In pot place water and brown sugar, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add tea bags, spice mixture, star anise and cinnamon sticks. Simmer for 20 minutes. Cool and place in jar. Makes approximately 1 quart. Can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Spices

add teabag, cinnamon sticks and star anise

To make Chai Latte, add chai concentrate to milk of your choice. Most instructions say to use 1 part chai concentrate to 3 parts milk but I like to do it half and half. I also like to use French Vanilla Creamer in my Chai... So I used evaporated milk and French Vanilla Creamer. I did run out of Creamer so used French Vanilla Syrup instead of the creamer and it tasted just as good. You can always heat the milk if you want, it makes the tea warmer. Chai can be enjoyed hot or cold.