It’s getting cold these days, my friend! Fall is definitely here, and we’ve already had frosty nights with freezes! After doing animal chores early in the morning, I return to the house with some frozen fingers, red cheeks & nose, and a real need for something warm. Chai is the perfect drink for Fall!
You can easily make a wonderful basic chai for yourself and your family. I’ll share my Green Tea Chai recipe with you, here. BUT! Many people don’t have time for tea blending or just don’t want to. If you are in that second category, I have a real treat for you, too!
FTC Disclosure: There are affiliate links scattered throughout this article. If you click through and make any kind of purchase, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Chai traditionally contains aromatic and pungent spices from India. These are also culinary spices many of us cook with! So you probably have many or all of these right in your own kitchen cupboard!
Go ahead and play around with the ingredients, if you like. Some people aren’t crazy about ginger, as an example. If that’s you—-just leave it out or reduce the amount! Simple!
Ingredients for Green Tea Chai Mix (Herbal Blend)
*** 1/2 cup Green Sencha Tea Leaves or other Green Tea (You could use black tea as well, if you prefer.)
*** 1/4 cup organic cinnamon chips (I love the chips because the powders tend to drain through my infuser cup, but half the amount of ground herb will work just fine, too!)
*** 1/4 cup organic ginger chips (Substitute with half the ground herb if you like.)
*** 1/8 cup organic clove buds, crushed
*** 1/8 cup organic cardamom pods
*** 1/8 to 1/4 cup organic black peppercorns, crushed
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. I love to use my clean hands to feel my tea. It’s a sensuous experience!
How to Prepare Your Chai Tea
I love a strong tea, so I generally use a tablespoon to one cup of water. Many of my friends use as little as a teaspoon. The strength of the tea you make is up to you! If you like tea strong, be a little more heavy handed. If you like a weaker tea, use less.
Step 1) Measure your tea mixture into a cup. I love this infuser cup because it’s heavy duty glass and works beautifully. It makes a great gift with some lovely tea, too!
Step 2) Pour just boiled water over the mixture and allow to steep for around 20 minutes or so. Again, you can make a stronger tea by increasing the steeping time (or decreasing it for a weaker tea).
Step 3) Strain out your herbs, if using a regular cup. If you are using your infuser cup, just remove the diffuser and place it on the handy lid!
Step 4) Add your milk or cream and sweetener if desired. Traditional chai is made with some type of sugar and usually some milk. But this is completely up to you. I love this tea all by itself!
Enjoy! Isn’t that simple?
You can also find directions for my Rosy Chocolate Chai Tea Recipe in that link. It’s yummy and contains cocoa nibs, giving it some extra anti-oxidant power!
***When I purchase herbs, I buy them from Starwest Botanicals. You can get all your culinary and medicinal herbs and spices there! The links in the recipe above are for Amazon for your convenience.
I know. I know. I really do. We are all busy. Or maybe you just don’t want to have all these separate herbs laying around in your kitchen if you know you’re not going to use them up! I get it! So here is a special treat for you!
My friend, Ceanne, over at St. Fiacres Farm just sent me three of her spicy tea blends. I love these, and they are all perfect for Fall and warming up your bones. (She has other teas that aren’t spicy, too, if that is more your style.)
What I really love about her teas is that she seriously knows what she is doing when it comes to blending her teas. They are master pieces!
Not only that, she uses herbs and spices from local small farms or her own gardens to create her teas. The herbs in the teas she sent to me are organic too. There are no chemicals or artificial or “natural” flavorings made in a laboratory, either. Her blends are pure plants!
What’s Wrong With Just Buying Tea from the Store?
You have to understand that tea is a special thing. When you buy those powdered teas in the months- or years-old tea bags from the stores, you have no idea what you’re really getting. You are certainly getting chemicals and unnatural flavorings. You can find out more about tea basics here.
You won’t find bad things in Ceanne’s teas. They are made from freshly dried, loose leaf herbs and spices. I just can’t say enough good things about them! Mr. V. loves them too, and he’s been asking me to make them for him since they arrived and he tried his first sip!
I loved the Persnickety Peach Chai especially. She makes her own peach extract to flavor this tea, and it is just divine! That one is my favorite!
The Turmeric Spice is perfect! Usually turmeric overpowers everything around it, but this tea blend is such a wonderful way to add this anti-inflammatory herb to your daily routine with perfect balance.
The Pumpkin Spice tea blend is just incredible! I’m a big fan of pumpkin and pumpkin spice, especially this time of year.
These are just a few of the many health supporting and pleasurable teas Ceanne carries in her shop!
Quality matters when it comes to herbal teas. It really does. Once you taste a home-blended tea made with your favorite herbs and spices, you’ll never go back to those old boxes of stale tea in the stores.
You can make your blends yourself, OR you can purchase high quality loose leaf teas specially formulated by my friend, Ceanne at St. Fiacres Farm. I’m so impressed with her. She truly has a gift! Take a look at her website for her full story about how she got their family business going!
And if you are thinking about creating a gift basket for the upcoming holidays for a tea lover in your life, I hope you’ll take a look at these ideas in Gifts for the Tea Lover in Your Life! And including Ceanne’s teas in a gift basket would make it really special!
You might also enjoy these related articles:
A Tea for Soothing Sore Throats
A Tea for Supporting the Lungs and Respiratory System
And, if you’d like to learn how to blend your own teas, even if you are nervous about using herbs, you must take a look at my eBook, . I’ve included favorite recipes, and lots of background so you can feel confident in your own creations! It’s on sale right now!
There are lots more over on the blog, too! Go take a look!
What are your favorite kinds of teas to drink?
Hugs, Health, and Self-Reliance,
Heidi
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Recipes,
Heidi Villegas, MA, CA, Herbalist
herbal tea, chai, chai tea, how to make tea, chai recipe
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