What
is CHAI?
Chai (pronounced as a single
syllable and rhymes with 'pie') is a centuries-old Asian beverage.
It is also the word for tea in many parts of the world, Russia for example, and has played
an important role in many cultures.
You can drink Chai with or without
milk.
The Chai from India is a spiced milk tea ( Masala Tea or spiced
tea) that is generally made up of:
The spices used vary from
region to region and among households in India. The most common are cardamom,
cinnamon,
ginger,
cloves,
and pepper. Many of these spices have medicinal
qualities which results in a warming, soothing effect. Chai also
acts as a natural digestive aid and can gives one a wonderful sense of
well being. It is usually cafinated, depending on the black or green tea
used in the recipe.
Drinking chai is part of life
in India.
In North America chai latte's are sold at places
like Starbucks
and Pete's Coffee, among other coffee
and tea shops. These teas are often not made from fresh spices or tea
bags, but from a thick brown paste. Starbucks also adds sugar or aspartame
to their chai. I like the Starbucks chai with non-fat milk. The
Pete's is no longer freshly made (believe it or not it used to be!), but made
from the paste, and often very very bitter. I do not recommend theirs
unless you get someone who actually knows how to make the tea properly.
Great chai can often be found
in Indian restaurants along with great food, but making your own chai provides
immense satisfaction. Recipes and tastes for chai vary widely and a multitude
of chai recipes are used around the world.
Indian grocers carry various chai
masala mixes which you can use to make your own chai. Today's
chai is found in a variety of forms, most commonly as a liquid concentrate.
Commercially produced concentrates can be found at many health food grocers
and coffee
shops. However,
ingredients for making your own chai are available almost everywhere.
Included in this site are a few recipes and where
you can purchase the ingredients. You will find that you get better
results from homemade Chai tea, using an old fashioned tea strainer, and
it ends up being far cheaper in the long run.
The reason one adds milk
to Chai and Yogi tea is because of the tannin. The milk
tends to control or mask the bitter taste. Of course, you do not
need to add milk, depending on your tastes, or perhaps the amount of Black
tea you use. At the Renaissance
Fair in Northern California they used to make Chai without milk.
Adding milk to tea may have been a British
invention but then again the Indians may have been doing it for centuries. |
History
of Chai
"Black
tea with milk and sugar is the national beverage of India. Across the length
and breadth of the nation, this simply is one taste that unites the whole
country. The rich, the poor, the old and the young - they all like their
black tea with milk and sugar. And they call this tea 'Chai.' "
In India
Chai stalls are a favorite meeting place to savor a hot, fresh cup (or
saucer) of chai and discuss the day's happenings. They are found all over
India; from train stations in Bombay, to tiny villages around the country.
Chaiwallahs are the chai vendors who serve up hot chai and hot gossip.
The preparation is
very simple. Take equal quantity of water and milk. Add sugar and bring
it to a boil . Add a spoonful of tea for every cup and boil again for another
two minutes. Serve with Indian snacks.
Not everyone enjoys Chai of
course. My friend, who went to school in India, hates Chai.
She does say that American Chai is different.
Either way, the spices involved
in making Chai as well as Yogi tea (see below)
have had a major impact on world history. Europeans were introduced
to Asian and Persian spices during the Crusades.
The goal to find a quicker route to Asia resulted in Cristofo
Colombo 'discovering' an island in the Caribbean, which led to others
'discovering' the American continents.
Of course the desire for Asian
spices, as well as the introduction of tea to Europe in the 1500's, caused
all sorts of things to happen that I needn't mention here.
History
of Tea - the British perspective
History
of Tea - excellent general history and reference
go
here for another history on tea in general
History of Tea - another history, lots of info
|
Recipes
and ways to make or use Chai Tea & Yogi Tea
Water
Temperatures For Preparing Tea
Brewing Tips
The
difference, I believe, between Chai and Yogi Tea, is the amount of sweetener,
sugar,
or honey one adds to the tea. In both cases, as in English tea, you
may add cow's milk or Soy
milk, to dilute the strong taste of the tea.
As
you may have read above, Chai and Yogi tea are basically the same thing,
Indian
tea. Indian tea can vary a great deal. Some of the recipes
included here may not be called Chai or Yogi tea, in particular, but most
of the ingredients come from Asia. Of course, one can experiment
when making one's own tea, either black, green, or herbal. You must
however, be sure of your ingredients especially considering what medicinal
qualities they may posses, and what can be mixed together effectively.
My Chai recipe:
I
buy all my herbs and spices from the local health food store. Larger
health food stores have a greater variety than small stores. I buy
things in bulk. However, I only buy a few ounces at a time of each
thing. I then have to grind up a lot of what I buy in the Cuisinart
Machine when I get home. After that I mix everything together
in a large glass container with a lid. I store my tea in this container.
When I want some
tea I scoop out a few spoonfuls into a large tea pot and pour boiling water
over the loose tea. After a while I pour some tea, using a tea strainer,
into my cup. I then mix in milk (I drink cows milk, but any milk
or soy will do, depending on your taste), then I mix in honey.
I find honey tastes MUCH better than
sugar.
Avoid sugar at all costs when drinking
tea (iced, black, whatever).
The
ingredients are as follows. Quantity depends on your tastes and the
cost of the ingredient. Black or Green tea (or a mixture of both)
are the staple of the tea, so that is what you need to include the most
of. As far as what kind of black tea, it's your choice. I use
a mixture of different teas, depending on what I feel like buying at the
time I am shopping. I buy all my teas in bulk at the local health
food store. The most common, and largest health food store is Whole
Foods. There are others plus you can order spices online as well.
-
Black and/or green tea- this
makes up the bulk of the mixture. I like to mix black tea and green
tea together, plus you can add Oolong if you desire. I also buy some
de-cafinated black tea to add to the mix.
Measurement: The rest of the
measurements are based on adding 1 cup of black/green tea to your
mix. This makes slightly more than a pint of bulk mixture.
-
Cinnamon
- I buy a few sticks of Cinnamon and grind them up in the Cuisinart.
You don't want powdered Cinnamon, rather you want small bits. The
quality of the "sticks" (actually bark) varies. add about 1/2 to 1/3
a cup.
-
Cloves -
you add slightly less cloves than you would Cinnamon. You may slightly
grind up the cloves in the Cuisinart
but only a little. The cloves will dissipate their essence into hot
water very well. add about 1/2 a cup.
-
Cardomom
- a very expensive spice that comes as seeds and pods. You add the
pods to a Chai recipe but I also add the seeds. I slightly grind
up the pods and the seeds in the Cuisinart.
add about 1/3 cup of pods, and/or 1/4 cup of seeds.
-
Ginger
- depending on how 'gingery' you want your tea, you may add a whole root,
which varies in size, or less. I take a fresh root, grind it up in
the Cuisinart then bake it till it is dry. I then add the dry ginger
to my mixture. It is very hard to find dry 'chunky' ginger at a grocery
story. You do not want the powder! Adding fresh ginger slices
to your brewing tea is always best but unless you are brewing a pot full
is not worth the time it takes to cut the ginger and steep the slices.
For
this mixture add 1 root to 1/2 root depending on size.
-
Black,
white or red pepper corns - try to buy this in bulk at a health food
store. The pepper corns in bottles from the grocery store tend to
be old. You can add whatever type of color pepper corns you like.
Grind up the corns in the Cuisinart slightly. Add about 1/2 cup
to the mix.
-
Licorice
- Not something you ordinarily add to Chai. It is an extra that you
can use if you want Licorice flavored Chai or simply another flavor to
your tea. Licorice is a root and comes in bulk as sticks or shredded.
Buy the shredded kind. Add any amount you like, I add about 1/2
cup.
-
Chamomile
- another herb not normally added to Chai. I also add Chamomile to
my Chai, just like licorice. It is an herb and has a nice mellow
taste. The flavor does not stand out in my Chai mix. You can
add any amount you desire, I actually add a lot because the spice is cheap!
about
1/3 of a cup.
You can add any other kind
of spices or herbs you like, within reason of course. If the spice
or herb is normally used as a tea, then it will probably work in Chai.
-
Vanilla
is another spice you can add to your mix. Vanilla Chai is sold in
tea bags by several companies. I have yet to find dry Vanilla that you
can add to a mix. Trader Joes
used to sell the slightly dried Vanilla flower in a bottle but you
can't grind it up and add it to a dry mixture.
-
Ginseng
is another herb you can add to your mix depending on your taste.
You can find it in various forms, from powdered to chunks, to the whole
root at the health food store.
-
Nutmeg
is another eastern spice that would fit well in a Chai mix. You need
to chip up the rather large seeds into chunks because you do NOT want to
add the powder. Be careful about using it (see below).
|
Information
about the Spices used in Indian Tea
Anise
- many uses including dropping seeds into a glass of hot milk for insomnia.
It is also used as a replacement flavoring in many foods and candies labeled
as licorice. Star Anise is a tropical, Asiatic plant related to the magnolia,
and it supplies many of the seeds in commerce. Pimpinella is the true aniseed.
It is used in treating indigestion, gas and flatulence, spasms of the gastrointestinal
tracts and abdominal pain.
Black
Tea - Black tea, green tea, as well as Oolong are all the
same tea leaf, just in a different form (see above).
Tea, or Thea sinensis (Tea Family) is an evergreen shrub native
to Asia. Tea from the Thea sinensis goes back at least five
thousand years, and was also considered a medicine by the Chinese.
The Chinese introduced tea to the west and it is now drank, in various
forms, all over the world.
Camomile
(Chamomile) - Many uses from bath and skin products to teas.
Drunk as a tea, helps one to fall asleep. There are many medicinal uses
for this plant. It is used for nervousness, headaches, anxiety, cramps
and spasms. It is also beneficial for febrile diseases such as cold and
flu. It is frequently used for digestive complaints and taken regularly
will gently regulate the bowels and aid in relaxation for sleeping. There
are several species, one is German Chamomile and another is English Chamomile.
When getting this at a spice store, be sure you know what kind you are
buying.
Cardamom
- an aromatic spice consisting of the seeds of a perennial herb, it has
many cooking as well as medicinal uses. It is one of the best and safest
digestive stimulants. It treats gastrological, enuresis (involuntary urination),
spermatorrhea, phlegm, indigestion and gas. This herb is an excellent warming,
antimucus stimulant to add to lung tonics. Basically it helps in stomachaches.
Similarly to Chai, a few seeds can be added to coffee for flavor.
Cassia
- Chinese cinnamon, used as a tonic, a stomachic, a carminative, incense,
and in potpourris.
Cinnamon
-
has a variety of uses. The Egyptians used it in the embalming process.
The oil is medicinal and has many uses. Cinnamon raises vitality,
warms and stimulates all the vital functions of the body, counteracts congestion,
is antirheumatic, stops diarrhea, improves digestion, relieves abdominal
spasms, and aids the peripheral circulation of the blood.
The spice was so highly prized
that fortunes were made and lost and empires built around its import and
export. It once was more valuable than gold in medieval Europe. Later it
was one of the most profitable spices in the Dutch
East Indian Company trade. Go here for more HISTORY
Clove
- Cloves come from an evergreen native to Indonesia, the plant bears small
brown flower buds. Like cinnamon, cloves are used for a variety of things
ranging from teas, to cooking and baking, to smoking, and as an aromatic
among other things. Cloves are an effective stimulant and aromatic
for the lungs and stomach. They dispel chill and disinfect the lymphatics.
The volatile oil is a powerful analgesic.
Centuries ago cloves were used in Chinese courts as breath mints. Cloves
were imported to Europe, similarly to Cinnamon, after the Crusades. In
the early 17th century, the Dutch eradicated all clove trees
except those on Amboina and Ternate to create scarcity and thus to sustain
high prices.
Green
Tea - see black tea
Ginger
- a highly medicinal root that is a popular condiment. Its properties are
stimulating, warming, aromatic, and digestive and ginger is used as a universal
tonic. It is one of the best herbs to use for nausea and vomiting
and is said to warm the center (stomach), aid digestion and assimilation,
relieve cold spasms and cramps, and promote menses. It is one of the most
widely beneficial warming stimulants.
Ginseng
- a Super Root that has been used as a cure-all for thousands of years.
It treats all deficiency diseases, strengthens the lungs, nourishes body
fluids, counteracts thirst, and calms the spirit. It may be used for shock,
collapse, lung deficiency, chronic febrile diseases, and heart weakness.
It is also helpful for convalescence, debility and weakness in old age.
Licorice
(Liquorice) - Licorice root is used these days mostly in teas,
especially medicinal teas for coughs and colds. There are many medicinal
benefits to this herb. It
strengthens
digestion, treats stomach and duodenal ulcers and improves energy. It is
good for dryness of the lungs and colds; it clears heat, detoxifies poisons,
relieves abdominal pains and spasms, and counteracts sore throat.
Licorice was stored in great quantity in King Tut's tomb. It has been used
as a curative in China for thousands of years.
Nutmeg
- Has many medicinal properties. It is used to treat diarrhea,
indigestion, loss of appetite, colic, flatulence and insomnia. It
is used as a stimulant, an aromatic, to stop vomiting, as a narcotic, and
a carminative. Take three Nutmeg seeds, grind them up, mix with ice
cream, and you get some sort of high. I have never done this but
I have had friends in high school 'do nutmeg' and something happens.
Vanilla
- This spice or flavoring comes from the seedpod, containing the vanilla
bean, of an orchid. Like many other orchids this flower has specialized
to such an extent that only one kind of bee can fertilize it (and of course
it can be hand fertilized by humans). Vanilla is used in foods, perfumes,
and lotions for the skin, aromatics and does have medicinal qualities as
well. The extract, bough at the local grocery has been so processed that
it lacks any of its original medicinal qualities.
The plant grows in tropical
countries and originated in Central America. The Aztecs drank vanilla with
chocolate (another new-world plant). In the 19th century orchids,
in general, were collected by the ton. Once 4 thousand trees were cut down
for the orchids growing on them. Today, orchids are still very difficult
to grow, very hard to get out of their native habitat safely and are becoming
endangered as rainforests are chopped down.
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Tea
