Before I go ahead and walk you through my grandma’s chai recipe, let’s establish some facts.

Its chai, not chai tea. Because chai means tea itself. Please stop saying ‘chai tea’.

My grandma used to say- Making chai is a form of art. It’s not just about boiling ingredients together. It’s about putting them together in the right proportions and letting them infuse together slowly.

So let’s get started. Here are the ingredients that you need:

Essential Ingredients (for one cup):

1. Black Tea Leaves (can be replaced with Tea Bags if you don’t have tea leaves) — 1 full tablespoon. You can buy these brands from an Indian grocery store near you.
2. Milk — Half a cup
3. Water — Half a cup
4. Sugar — 1 full tablespoon
5. Cardamom (Both Green and Black Cardamom if possible) — 2 pods of each
6. Ginger — a small cube (about 2cm x 2cm)
7. Fennel Seeds — 1 tablespoon

My grandma used to say:

The most important ingredient in chai is ‘Love’. You have to handle it carefully, stir it gently, and let the ingredients infuse slowly. You have to care for it as it boils.

So let’s get started

These instructions are applicable to one cup of chai. Scale-up all the measurements accordingly for multiple cups.

Step 1: Take half a cup of water and start boiling it in a pot. Keep the heat at a medium level.

Step 2 (As soon as you put the pot on the stove): Add 1 tbsp tea leaves and 1 tbsp sugar. Crush 2 pods of green cardamom and 2 pods of black cardamom. Add them to the pot. Crush the cube of ginger and add it to the pot as well. Also, add 1 tbsp of fennel seeds, 1/2 tbsp cinnamon, and 1 crushed clove.

Some explanation of the ingredients and the role they play:

1. The green cardamom adds a great aroma to the chai.
2. The black cardamom adds boldness to its taste.
3. The ginger adds a little kick and makes it healthy.
4. The fennel seeds also add aroma and a savory taste at the beginning. (You may skip fennel seeds if you don’t like them)
5. The cinnamon and clove add the spiciness to the chai.

Step 3: So basically, we’re boiling everything except the milk together. Once the water starts boiling, add half a cup of milk. Increase the heat to high. Keep an eye out on the chai as it starts to boil. As it starts to boil over, reduce the heat to a low level.

Step 4: Increase the heat again. Once the chai starts to boil over, reduce the heat to low. Do this step one more time. We have to let it boil over three times.

Step 5 (The most important part): Now, put the chai to low heat and let it cook for 5 minutes. A lot of people take chai off the heat as soon as it boils because they think it’s ready. As my grandma used to say:

The real taste of chai comes from the slow infusion of ingredients that happens after you let it boil over a couple of times. You can also let it cook slowly for longer than 5 minutes depending on your preference for the strength of chai. If you want a stronger taste, let it cook for longer (7–8 mins) on slow heat. Also, if you are planning to cook it for longer, add more water at the very beginning (3/4th cup instead of 1/2 cup) because the water evaporates.

Final Step: Take the chai off the heat and filter all the ingredients out through a sieve. Your chai is ready!

Additional tip: Dip a biscuit in your chai (for a couple of seconds) and eat it! Your biscuit just became exponentially tastier.