How to Make Chai Tea

A traditional drink of India and Pakistan, masala chai has become a popular beverage worldwide. While you may certainly purchase teabags at your local grocery store, you will achieve a more authentic flavor if you make it yourself, bouquet garni style, using the following recipes.

Ingredients :
* 2 teaspoons fresh ginger root; grated
* 1 whole star anise; broken up
* 1 teaspoon orange peel; grated
* 4 pieces cinnamon bark (canela); 1 1/2 inch
* 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
* 10 whole cloves
* 5 whole peppercorns
* 5 cups water
* 1/4 cup black tea leaves; (like Assam or Darjeeling)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/4 cup honey
* 3 cups milk

Steps :
1. Bundle up the first seven ingredients in a length of cheese cloth and tie it together with a string. This is called a bouquet garni (pronounced "boo-KAY gar-NEE").

2. Place the bouquet garni in a pot of water. The string should be tied to the handle for easy removal later on.

3. Bring the water to a very low boil, then reduce the heat and simmer. Boiling water may extract too much bitterness from the tea leaves.

4. Add tea leaves and continue simmering for 15 minutes.

5. Remove the bouquet garni.

6. Strain the remaining liquid through a sieve to remove tea leaves.

7. Add honey, vanilla, and milk.

8. Serve. Pour the mixture over crushed ice if you're serving it cold. This makes eight servings.


Tips :
# Tea leaves can release too much bitterness if exposed to hot water for too long. The general rule of thumb when making an "infusion" such as this is that if you prefer a "stronger" flavor, do not steep longer, increase the amount of tea you use.

# Remember that Chai Tea is an infinitely adaptable recipe. You may consider removing or changing the quantities of any of the ingredients, to your taste. For example, instead of honey, regular sugar or brown sugar could be used. Nutmeg is a common addition (best freshly grated), and you may wish to try licorice, saffron, chocolate or cocoa.

# Feel free to experiment with other techniques such as using green or white tea instead of black tea leaves. Other variations could use soy milk instead of skim milk. Or you could use a different sweetener than honey, such as rice syrup or maple syrup.

# If you don't have cheesecloth or find it messy to deal with, you can purchase empty paper tea bags from a tea shop. Fill it with your spices (and another with tea leaves if you wish), close it with an inexpensive bag clip, then discard it when done. You can also get cloth bags made of unbleached muslin that are reusable. They close with a drawstring. Alternatively you can rely on the straining process to remove much of the solids but finely grated spices will pass through.

# The proper name for the drink known as "chai" or "chai tea" is "masala chai." The word "chai" is Urdu, Hindi, and Russian for "tea", while "masala" is Hindi for "spice". If you say you are making "chai" that would mean that you are making plain tea. Thus both words are necessary.

# The word "chai" also has roots in Chinese. Cha, pronounced like "chai" without an i is the word for tea in many areas of China and Eastern India such as Bengal.

# Kenya is one of a number of countries that use the word chai, and when they say it they generally refer to a hot tea drink flavored with "tea masala" and with milk added. Sometimes the maker adds sugar, but often this is left to the individual; Kenyans tend to use a lot of sugar. I once saw it prepared while I lived in Kenya, and the tea bags, water, and milk were all heated together, with the tea masala added just before serving. The tea masala is marketed in a bottle like many other spices, and can be found at many Asian grocery stores in the U.S.

# There are four kinds of cinnamon: China Cassia, Vietnamese Cassia, Korintje Cassia and Ceylon Cinnamon. Ceylon is twice as expensive and well worth it. Try all four or a combination.

# Some chai tea recipes call for a longer boiling time, such as one hour. In this instance, some ingredients, such as ginger, can be chopped into larger chunks. The tea may be added last (separately), and allowed to infuse after the concoction has stopped boiling. Some chai tea variations may also call for mint leaves, and exclude other ingredients, such as vanilla. Delicate ingredients such as mint leaves should be added during the end of the boil, or merely allowed to infuse after the boil has ended.


Warnings :
# In some cultures and contexts, the term "Chai Tea" is redundant. So if you don't want to sound uninformed, leave out the "tea". When commonly used in the United States the term "Chai Tea" is not redundant as it is used in the colloquial to refer to the particular type of spiced milk tea served in India, a.k.a Masala tea.

Source : http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Chai-Tea

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How to Make Tea

A well-made cup of hot tea can warm the heart and soul of any tea lover, but it can be unpleasantly bitter or disappointingly tasteless when improperly steeped. A conscientious approach to tea preparation can maximize the flavor and health benefits provided by the tea bush, Camellia sinensis. Here's how to get it just right.

Steps :
1. Bring more than enough water to a boil in a non-reactive tea kettle.
1.a. The better tasting your water, the better tasting your tea. The best water is filtered or bottled (but not distilled). If using tap water, let it run cold for 10 seconds before using it for tea.

2. Pre-heat the vessel. This will prevent the steeping water from dropping in temperature as soon as it is poured in. Add a little boiling water to a ceramic or porcelain tea pot or the individual cups--wherever the tea will be steeped (ceramic and porcelain retain heat well). Cover the tea pot with the lid and a cozy, if you have one. Let stand until the vessel is warm, then pour out the water and proceed immediately to the next step.


3. Put the tea in an infuser, strainer, or directly in the bottom of the tea pot. Steeping without an infuser or strainer gives the tea more room to unfold and release additional flavor.Start with one heaped teaspoon per cup of tea to be made, unless you have instructions which say otherwise. The amount of loose tea you use will depend on the type and strength of the tea, as well as your individual taste, so a little experimentation may be in order.

3.a. If using tea bags, the measuring has already been done for you - generally it's one tea bag per cup. However, make sure that the bags are fresh, since most commercially produced bags consist of small pieces of leaves that are susceptible to becoming stale faster than the loose leaf variety.


4. Add hot water. Pour it over the tea. Use an amount in proportion to the quantity of tea you've added (e.g. 5 cups of water for 5 teaspoons of tea). The ideal water temperature varies based on the type of tea being steeped. The more oxidized (fermented) the tea (e.g. black tea) the hotter the water should be, whereas less oxidized teas (white, green) should be steeped in water that isn't as hot.

4.a. white or green teas, well below boiling (170-185 F or 76-85 C) When the water boils, turn off the heat and let the water cool for 30 seconds for white tea and 60 seconds for green tea before pouring it over the leaves

4.b. oolongs (185-210 F or 85-98 C)

4.c. black teas, water must be at a rolling boil (212 F or 100 C) The most common mistake is to steep black tea with water that is not hot enough, which can prevent the active substances in black tea from developing

4.d. pu-erhs, full rolling boil (212 F or 100 C).

5. Let steep. Cover with the cozy to retain warmth. Different teas require different steeping times. Check the box for guidance. If there are no instructions, steep for a minute or two, then taste frequently until it's flavorful but not bitter.


6. Remove the tea leaves from the pot (if you have a strainer or infuser) or pour the liquid into another vessel (a cup or a pot, with a strainer to catch any tea leaves). Tuck the tea pot back inside a tea cozy if there is tea remaining in the pot after serving everyone. This helps keep the tea hot longer.


7. Infuse again. Many teas can be infused multiple times, so repeat the above steps, increasing the steeping time with each infusion, to get the most out of your tea. In some Chinese traditions, the tea is first steeped for 15-30 seconds to rinse any surface contaminants from the leaves, and the resulting liquid is also used to rinse any cups and utensils that will come in contact with the following infusions, which are the ones to be served.

8. Serve the hot tea with milk, sugar, lemon or honey. Do not serve the tea with lemon and milk or the milk will curdle. Choose one or the other. If you use milk, add the milk to the cup first, then add the tea. This prevents the hot tea from scalding the milk by heating it up gradually. The milk will scald if you add the milk to the hot tea rather than the other way around.


Tips :
# Store tea in an airtight container to limit exposure to oxygen or moisture in a container that won't impart flavor on the tea. Black tea has a longer shelf-life than green tea, while Pu-erh tea actually improves with age. If you might be storing the tea for an extended period of time, use desiccant packets or oxygen absorbing packets and vacuum seal.

# If making tea from whole leaves, it can be enjoyable to steep them in a French press and watch the colors radiate from the unfolding leaves.

# Descale your kettle often to remove mineral deposits.

# Many people like their tea one way, unlike the exact way of anyone else. Find the way you like tea the best -- some like it with only cream, others just sugar; some like honey instead of sugar, while others prefer an artificial sweetner; yet others prefer both cream and honey; some like nothing but lemon or lemon and honey.

# Perhaps the most common way is with cream and sugar. Depending on if you want a strong tea flavor and a more watery tea or a creamier tea, you may want to adjust the amount of cream you put in, and how much sugar or sweetner you put in obviously depends on how sweet you want your tea.

# For a sweet, creamy dessert-like tea, add half cream and half tea, and then add three hefty spoons of sugar.

# A general rule of thumb for steeping time based on oxidation status is to brew black tea 4-4.5 min, green tea for 3-4 min, and white tea 3-4 min. As mentioned above, check for any instructions on your tea packaging.

# Boiling water can damage tea leaves, make sure you check what temperature the tea you are using should have.

Warnings :
# If you live in a mountainous, high-altitude area, the lower boiling point can make it difficult to properly steep teas that require a high temperature (e.g. black, pu-erh).

# If you boil water in the microwave, take precautions to make sure the water doesn't explode (a dangerous phenomenon known as superheating).

Things You'll Need :
# Non-reactive tea kettle to boil the water
# Ceramic or porcelain tea pot
# A bowl to pour the leftover hot water from the tea pot
# Tea strainer or tea ball
# Sugar and creamer
# Tea cozy (optional)
# Tea

Source : http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Tea

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