Make your own Chai Tea concentrate!

So, we all know that one way to save some money is to avoid overpriced drinks at coffee shops.  I don't even drink coffee and I know it.  But when fall arrived this year I was just achin' for a hot beverage.  I mean, you know how it feels to feel "fall-ish" and "chilly" and watch someone delve into a hot cuppa joe.  Jealous!  I've never been a coffee gal, or even a tea gal, but I have learned to like Chai tea.  The flavors are good and, let's face it, it has a lot more sugar than regular tea.

I first starting drinking chai with the Oregon Chai Original concentrate.  That stuff is good.  And there's a reason why.  Sh-sh-sh-sugaaaaa.  There's a lot of it in there.  So I decided to check out options where I could control the amount of sugar.  I found a really great recipe on Eighty-Twenty.  She cuts out a lot of the sugar, but not all of it.  It turned out really great, and after getting used to it, I didn't really miss the sugar.

So, here's the process:

Gather your ingredients--black tea, ginger, cardamom, an orange, cinnamon, cloves, star anise.  A little tip: I bought my ginger and spices at the Asian market--definitely cheaper!  Although I have enough cardamom pods to last me the rest of my life!

Tea and spice and everything nice.

After you have added all your ingredients, you let them steep on the stove.  It's getting steamy in here!

Here's a better view of my magical brew!  It smelled great!

Add your brown sugar...

Your honey...

and your vanilla... Whisk it up.

Use a fine mesh strainer to drain the liquid into whatever you are going to keep your concentrate in.

We're ready!  Fill a cup half full with the concentrate.

Fill the other half with milk.  Heat it up and enjoy!

Homemade Chai Tea Concentrate
Print Recipe

Serves 8
Adapted from a recipe by eat8020.com

6 cups water
8 black tea bags
½ an orange (and the zest from it)
20-30 cardamom seeds (or you could use 1 tsp ground cardamom)
10-12 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick (I used two)
1-4” slice of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
¼ c. brown sugar
2 T. honey
1 T. vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil.  Remove from heat and add the tea bags, spices, and orange zest.  Squeeze the juice from the orange into the pot and add the orange itself to the tea.  Allow to steep for 20 minutes.

Whisk in the honey, sugar, and vanilla.  Strain the contents of the pot into a container for storage.  Keep concentrate refrigerated.  

To prepare chai tea, fill your cup half full with chai tea concentrate and fill the other half with milk.  Enjoy it hot or cold!