How to Make Chai Concentrate

Here’s how to make a delicious Chai Concentrate using a unique blend of aromatic spices and steeped black tea. This warmly spiced beverage can be enjoyed as is or used to make a wide variety of drinks and desserts.

I love using a mixture of chai spices (or masala) to create flavours in baking, cooking, and cocktails. Everyone loves these Perfectly Spiced Chai Shortbread at holiday cookie exchanges while candied chai pecans make a great gift or topping for this Chai Spiced Sweet Potato Casserole.

Chai Concentrate

Chai concentrate is a unique blend of aromatic spices brewed with black tea, for a warm spiced beverage that can be used to make a wide variety of drinks. Use this unique chai concentrate to make hot or iced chai lattes, pumpkin chai lattes, or a dirty chai.

Firstly, let’s clear the air on chai. It is ALWAYS called chai and not chai tea. This is because chai literally means tea in Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Russian, Swahili, and many other languages across South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. There is no need to say it twice!

Furthermore, while chai means “tea” in Hindi, in traditional South Asian culture, it can also refer to a rich, aromatic brew of strong black tea, milk, water, sweetener, and crushed spices boiled together into a unified, creamy beverage.

Unlike Western-style tea where leaves steep in plain hot water and milk is added after, traditional chai recipes simmer the tea and spices directly in water and milk to extract deep, bold flavour. It’s worth noting that most North American coffee shops use chai concentrate added to steamed milk to make a quick chai latte option.

The spice mixture, or masala, used in every chai mixture is different and varies according to region and personal taste. There is no true recipe for chai or chai concentrate but rather a personalized flavour profile for each tea drinker.

Please use this chai recipe as a base only. Make it once or twice then customize it by adding and omitting spices to create your favourite flavor profile.

Ingredients in Chai Concentrate

For this recipe you will need a 2-3 quart saucepan, measuring cups and spoons, a knife, a cutting board, and a mesh strainer. If ground spices are used during brewing, strain twice, once through a fine mesh strainer, then again through a coffee filter to remove excess material and prevent over-flavouring.

• Cinnamon Sticks
• Ginger
• Star Anise
• Cloves
• Black Peppercorns
• Granulated Sugar
• Black Tea Bags
• Water
• Vanilla Extract
• Ground Nutmeg

This recipe uses easy to find English black tea blend for a rich flavour, but your preferred organic black tea can be used.  Some common varieties of black tea are Assam, Darjeeling, and Ceylon. For a caffeine free version, feel free to use your favourite caffeine-free black tea in this recipe.

Ginger- Fresh ginger adds a warm and sharp spicy flavour to the tea.  Thinly slice or chop for best flavour. If using dried ginger, substitute ½ teaspoon.

Cinnamon– Cinnamon sticks add a warm, sweet, and slightly woody flavour to the tea.  If using ground cinnamon, substitute 1 teaspoon.

Star Anise– Star anise provides a unique sweet licorice flavour.  If using ground star anise, substitute ½ teaspoon.

Cloves– Whole cloves lend a warm and slightly spicy flavour to the concentrate.  If using ground cloves substitute ¼ teaspoon.

Peppercorns– Whole black peppercorns add a subtle warming heat to the tea.  If using ground black pepper, substitute ¼ teaspoon.

Nutmeg– Added after straining, nutmeg adds a warm, woody flavour and gives the chai its characteristic appearance of particles in the tea.

Sugar– Sugar adds a little sweetness to the tea but can be omitted if preferred. Traditionally, jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) is used but you can use white sugar, brown sugar, or even honey.

Vanilla– Vanilla extract adds a subtle vanilla flavour to the tea concentrate and acts as a flavour enhancer.  Real extract is best, but imitation can be used if preferred.

How to Make Chai Concentrate

To begin, add the sliced ginger, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, and peppercorns to a 2–3-quart saucepan placed over medium heat. Heat the spices until fragrant, stirring regularly, 2-3 minutes.

Next, add the water to the saucepan and increase heat to high. Heat spice mixture until it just starts to boil. Reduce heat to medium or medium-high to maintain a simmer just shy of boiling then set a timer for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes of simmering, remove the pan from the heat, immediately add the sugar, stirring until dissolved.  Next, add the tea bags and steep for 10 minutes.

When the tea has brewed, strain through a fine mesh strainer, discard the aromatics then stir in the vanilla extract and ground nutmeg. 

Chai Concentrate Storage

Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for one week.  Serve chilled for iced drinks or warm on the stove or in the microwave for hot drinks.

Hi! I’m Bernice Hill, the heart and soul behind Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen. It is my pleasure to share easy to follow recipes that are delicious, nutritious, and approachable for the whole family.

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