Chai Concentrate

Chai tea lattes. A warm and spicy favorite when the weather turns cold. A delicious creamy, iced treat in the summer. Perfectly blended at your favorite local coffee shop. Not so easy to recreate in your own home.

Not anymore. Though I've created an authentic chai tea in my own kitchen before (see here for the recipe), it can be a time-consuming process and most people don't want to go through the effort that authentic chai tea entails.

That's where this post comes in. Chai tea concentrate. All you do is prepare the mix, which stores in the fridge for 6 months, and add two heaping teaspoons of the stuff to a nice hot cup of black tea. Mix and enjoy.

I originally saw this recipe on Shirin, Handmade, just after Christmas 2011.  I thought it was a great gift idea, not only for the biggest tea-lover on your list but for yourself. You only have to put forth a little effort up front (and trust me, that effort is extremely minimal!) and then you (or a friend) have 6 months of inexpensive and quick chai tea lattes ready in the same amount of time it takes to prepare a mug of steaming hot tea. Plus, it can be fun to find and decorate recycled glass jars for packaging. Check out Shirin's post for some more cute packaging ideas (and a great homemade barbecue sauce recipe too!).

Chai Tea Concentrate

recipe slightly adapted from Shirin, Handmade

Ingredients

• 1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tsp ground cardamom (this can be hard to find/expensive so simply add 1/2 tsp more nutmeg and cinnamon if you can't get your hands on some cardamom)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp whole fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients and mix!
2. Enjoy 2 heaping teaspoons of the chai concentrate mixed in with your favorite black tea!