- 1/2 cup instant tea
- 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
- 1/4 cup powdered coffee creamer
- 1/2 cup white or (better) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
In a resealable container combine all of the ingredients and stir with a fork or a whisk to distribute everything evenly. Store on the pantry shelf.
To Prepare: Combine 3 tablespoons Chai Tea Mix with 1 cup boiling water. Stir well to dissolve. Sip and savor.
Cardamom is the ingredient that gives this recipe an authentic Indian flavor. To tell the truth though, it can be expensive and hard to find. If desired you can omit it completely or replace it with an equal amount of allspice. It will not be authentic Chai at that point, but it will be authentic Spiced Milk Tea, which is pretty much what Chai means. Some people add ground fennel or lemon peel to their Chai. I prefer this recipe made with brown sugar, but white sugar is cheaper and makes a prettier mix. Feel free to experiment with the flavors as you see fit.
If you are enjoying this frugal drink recipe, try my honey lemonade recipe next. It’s delicious on a hot summer day.
My experience has been it’s best not to used too hot water with powdered milk. It seems to “cook” it too much and make it lumpy.
I’ve made a number of different chai tea recipes and I must say yours is the best! So very yummy and soothing! Thank you so much,I’ll enjoy this for ever and will share it at Christmas.
I’ve tripled the recipe and shared with friends!!! So yummy!! My 5 yr. old wants to drink “try tea” with me!!
For cardamom, my advice is that you go to you nearest, Indian/Pakistani Grocery store. It is much cheaper to buy it there. You can get already ground powder or the dried pods, your preference/choice.
On the instant tea, do you use the unsweetened tea or the sweetened? I went to get everything, and they had both on the shelf, so I thought I better check first and see which one works best. Thanks for any suggestions…..
I use sweetened, but you could use unsweetened as well and add sugar or your favorite no-calorie sweetener to taste.
Oh. My. Goodness. This is the best Chai tea I have ever tasted! I went ahead and made it with the unsweet instant tea, and it was perfect! I think if I had used the sweetened tea, it would have been too sweet for my taste, but that’s just my opinion. I am addicted, I can’t get enough, LOL….I am making up batches of this and putting in pretty little jars and giving as Christmas gifts~~Thanks so much for this recipe, it is absolutely divine!! Oh, I almost forgot, I agree with Sam, I got my cardomom at the health food store in the bulk bin, instead of buying it a the grocery store where it was about $10 for a little jar! I paid 80 cents for enough to make this recipe about 6 times!
I find bulk spices at my local food co-op. If you have one near by, you can buy as little or as much of a spice as you want, so you don’t leftover spices that you won’t use.
Cardamom pods last very long. The ground has a very short shelf life. Buy it from the web. I found a wonderful site that sells it and it was very reasonable. Plus it is worth buying because a little really goes far when it is fresh. Here’s a hillbilly tip…..i chew the leftover pods.
HOW would you use the pod, in this tea recipe?
I’ve made this a few times & it disappears too quickly, yum, delicious! I’m wondering instead of putting the sugar in the blender…which seems to turn it to powdered sugar, could I start with powdered sugar? Would that work okay? It would save me the time of having to blend the regular sugar.
Would I use less powdered sugar? or still the same amount?
What do you do with the leftover pudding mix & what’s the best way to store it? I’m anxious to try this, thank you!!
where’s the chai seeds?
Donna, there are no seeds in chai. It is just spiced tea, originally made in India. (In fact, I believe the word “chai” means “tea” in Hindi.)
I think perhaps you meant chia seeds? None are in chai!
I love this chai tea. But, I always have spices undissolved in the bottom of my cup I heat the milk with the tea mix in it. Is there any way to use this chai tea mixture with hot milk and completely dissolve all the mixture.