indian tea (chai latte)

Many years ago we knew a man from India who gave us a few packages of an Indian tea spice blend. We never really measured how much of the other ingredients we used to make this tea but when we ran out of the spice blend we started improvising. The ingredients below, that is, the spices, are just a suggestion. If you don't like a particular spice then simply use less or skip it; use more of the ingredients you like. There is no rule when it comes to making delicious Indian tea. Just promise me to take it easy on the sugar; there is no need to use a lot of sugar when you have a wonderful flavour of spices. Too much sugar ruins the tea for me. Sometimes I use only 1½-2 tablespoons of the raw cane sugar and add ½ tablespoon of home-made vanilla sugar. Experiment and see what you like best, that's the key. If you have time you can start with boiling the water with the spices to get a hotter blend, and then add the rest of the ingredients later. You can even boil the milk separately and whisk it before adding it to the tea. With the foamy milk the tea looks like a real latte.

INDIAN TEA (CHAI LATTE)

INGREDIENTS

• 500 millilitres water (2 cups)
• 500 millilitres milk/soy milk (2 cups)
• 4 bags organic black tea
• 2-2½ tablespoons organic raw cane sugar
• 2-3 cinnamon sticks (you can also use ground cinnamon)
• ½ teaspoon whole cloves
• ¼ teaspoon whole aniseed
• a few black peppercorns or freshly ground black pepper
• pinch of ground ginger
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• pinch of ground cardamom (you can also use pods)

METHOD

1. Put all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium-high heat
2. Serve the tea in a cup or a bowl and enjoy!