I will acknowledge that I tend to find something I LOVE and then eat, drink, do, wear (insert action here) ad nauseum. I will just consider it a quirk of mine and leave it at that. Some examples of this are: running, find a song I love and leaving it on repeat for days and days, Tetris (wish I was kidding), watching Pride and Prejudice (..over and over and over.. If Darcy wouldn't have done that thing with his hand and said that he loves Elizabeth Bennet "most ardently" it would be easier to quit this habit.) Anyway, the latest "quirk" is chai. I'm absolutely loving it. However, one venti, iced (easy ice, please), nonfat, four pump chai ("a defining sense of self") will run me $3.99 (and my first born child) at Starbucks. Crazy, eh? So I started investing in the Tazo chai concentrate which can be found at Walmart for $3.47 a box. That can still get a bit pricey so I am in pursuit of the perfect chai recipe. When I find a recipe I love I will post it over at chowcity, but while I'm looking I will post the update here and if anyone has any pointers feel free to help a sister out!
Attempt #1
6 bags of Awake black tea
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 chunk of fresh ginger, smashed
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups water
3 cups milk
I combined the above ingredients (minus the milk) and brought them to a boil. After a couple minutes I took out the tea bags and let the other ingredients simmer. I then added the milk and reheated, being careful not to boil. Once it had cooled a bit I strained it using a fine mesh strainer.
Consensus: I need to be careful to not let the tea steep too long and maybe next time I will boil the spices first? Also, I think more cloves and ginger are in order for the next attempt! I poured the chai in a pitcher and allowed it to chill overnight and it was much, much better in the morning!
Maybe I will have this perfected in time for fall.. and just in time to decide that I love latte's again :)
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