Flint's Five Spice Chai Tea

Flint and his wife Jessica live in India for most of the year. In 2005 they rented my house to stay here in the Bay Area for 3 month to make some money. Since then they have come back almost every year, I really like them a lot, and enjoy the young spirit they bring back from India. The time I get to spend with them is fun. One of the perks is that every morning Flint brews this most delicious Chai-tea and I got hooked to it. One day he taught me how to make it and it is a lifesaver and a joy to see how everybody likes it too. Like "what brand is it???" but no... home-made and a bit different every time!!!

Now making Chai-tea is like making spaghetti sauce, there are so many different ways, but here is the way Flint is making it.

Instructions:

Starting with cold water... 2/3 of the total amount of tea is water.
While the water gets to a boil you peal and slice ginger, crush cardamon, lemon grass and the other spices like cinnamon. These are the stable of the tea, then you can add anise, cayenne, clover, caraway seeds, mint, nutmeg, pepper... be creative!!!
Once this brew is boiling add the sugar, depending on how sweet you like it, you always can add more later when you're drinking it.
Bring to a boil again and then add the milk... it gets tricky now. You have to get the milk to a boil and make sure it dosn't boil over... keep your eyes on it!!! Otherwise cleaning the stove is a bitch, as we all know.
Once it boils, a good foam build-up that's when you add the loose leave tea. Let it steep for about two minute or more... if you leave it in too long the tea gets bitter.
Strain and serve... if you have leftover pour into a thermos and drink it later...

Enjoy!!!

Ingredients:

- 3 cups of Water.
- 1 to 1/1/2 inch Ginger, pealed and cut into smaller pieces.
- 5 to 8 pods of Cardamon, the fresher the better, Buy the Green kind, cut each pod in half and press the seeds out of it but through it all into the water.
- Lemon Gras about two 2 inch pieces, I buy the grass in a stock and start cutting it down from the top. Store it in water and it stays fresh for quite some time.
- 5 or so leaves of Mint, if you have fresh one from the garden.
- Cinnamon, use a half of a stick, depending on your likes, maybe a 1/2 a tablespoon if it is ground.
- Crush a tablespoon of caraway seeds and 3 pieces of clover.
- Grade some fresh nutmeg, just a couple of strokes if you're using a fresh nut on the grinder or a pinch if you use ground nutmeg.
- a pinch of cayenne pepper for heat. If you don't like it too spicy use black pepper, that way you can use a bit more.
- add more spices as you like, play wit different tastes, anise, you tell me...
- 2 tablespoon of Sugar, brown is preferred, also honey is really good, but I would add it after you finished the whole process, that means in your cup.
- 1 1/2 cup of Milk, as for me I like as much fat as I can get... I even added some heavy whip cream at some point of time... but that is up to you to experiment with.
- 1 handful of loose leave tea. I buy a pack of Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe tea and mix them together 1/2 and 1/2 in a jar that I keep ready when I make the tea.


The fun thing is that you can play with this recipe and you can't go wrong. I've had friends who now add rice-dream instead of milk... it totally up to you...