ahh warm and sweet !! (Chai Recipes)

Member Name: abcddcba

Product:	Chai Recipes
Date:	05/05/09 (173 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: some

Disadvantages: you prefer it over all other tea

Aha my favourite drink has a prestigeous category of its own I have just discovered. This sort of freezing weather brings out the tea-drinker in me. At the moment I have a cup of hot chai sitting next to me while I type.



Meaning and a bit of history:
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Chai is simply the Indian (rather Hindi term )for black tea pronounced as cha- ay rhyming with tie. Authentic chai is very different in taste and strength to the normal British cuppa which is much milder .

The history of chai can be traced back to the altenative treatment of Ayurveda in which tea was usually used as the base beverage which aided healing in diseases with cold and cough as symptoms . We still find people drinking ginger-tea with honey as an expectorant.



Preparation:
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In India a normal basic chai would be made by boiling fresh water with heavily pre-boiled milk till at least one-third its strength adding black-tea leaves (usually a mix of aromatic Darjeeling- tea and the liquor rich Assam tea in equal halves) and then straining the beverage.
Indians usually prefer it sweet but diabetics and health conscious people add/can add sugar substitutes or go without sugar.


After researching high and low I found the premium brand of most supermarket tea in 2parts mixed with 1 part of orange pekoe gives the closest taste to the authentic chai-blend.
2tsp of this mixture when boiled hard (for 5-6 minutes with the heat setting intermittently high and low ) for 200mls of water and 50 mls of milk is the appropriate amount to take.



Variations:
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There are several variations to the basic tea though and what has become quite popular is the masala tea(have put in a recipe for it) :

I usually grind up the following ingredients in a coffee-grinder and store it in an air-tight container and use as required and this keeps well for almost 3months.

Masala for 10 teaspoons:


20 green cardamoms
5 large black cardamoms
20 cloves
7 black pepper corns(use less for to make it milder)
½ tsp ground ginger powder( usually I use fresh crushed ginger )

Use half a tsp of this per cup of chai when boiling the water.

Masala tea (also called tea-latte in some places) tastes best when made to sit on a low flame/heat for 20 mins or so with all the ingredients in it , possibly because all the flavours/oils seep out and blend in the brew.

Then there is mint tea.. where you can throw in a tsp of torn fresh mint leaves into the boiling water and then add tea and the rest according to your taste.

Fennel tea...where you can just add some crushed fennel and this helps in digestion I think but don't add any milk to this.

There are some more varieties but I haven't tried any of those.


Advantages:
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You drink in those much talked about antioxidants in black-tea at the same time.

Ginger and honey are age old expectorants, they will drive out your chesty cough.

All those spices will scent up your home and calm your stomach and nerves .

I have noticed chai doesn't have that popular a place in most people's home , but I am sure once you get used to its taste it will be your favourite hot drink.So if you have a bit spare time make a cuppa, sit with a pack of dunking biscuits and fill up your tummy with this warm beverage.

Summary: great alternative to your daily cuppa