This authentic Masala Chai recipe features fragrant Indian spices, black tea, and your choice of milk (plant-based or dairy). A cozy, comforting mug of goodness. Serve this with Spicy Chai Molasses Cookies!
Many thoughts appear in the mind, but it is the heart that holds one and not another. ~Dorothy Hunt
Call me a late bloomer, but it wasn’t until I went to India and experienced Chai firsthand that I fell in love with it. Now, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t either make myself a cup or pine for it.
Yes, I’ve had it numerous times here in the States, but somehow, either it was overly sweetened, too bland, or perhaps I had just never truly “connected” with it. It was almost like I met Chai for the first time at age 50 when I went to India. Masala Chai filled a void I never knew I had until those very first sips. ☕️ Here is a video of my favorite Chai Wallah at work- in a small village in Rajasthan, India. (Shot on my iPhone)
Authentic Masala Chai in India | 30-sec video
What is Masala Chai?
In India, masala means spice, and chai means tea. Spiced Tea. And that is exactly what Masala Chai is -black tea infused with fragrant spices, typically served with hot milk.
Here in the states, we often call this “chai tea”, or a chai tea latte. But in India, saying “chai tea”, is like saying “tea tea”. So that’s why in India, one says Masala Chai – or spiced tea. Good to know, right? 😉
What makes Masala Chai authentic is the use of spices. One thing is for sure: every single person in India probably has their own unique combination of spices they prefer in their masala chai, and there is no one “right” way. It is very subjective.
Chai Latte Ingredients
Chai Wallahs- the street vendors who make masala chai, all have their own unique blend of chai spices as well- and as you can probably guess, I was obsessed with watching them make their creations. I especially love the green cardamom pods I picked up in India. Here is a starting point for you, but feel free to improvise and fine-tune it to your own taste.
- Spices– Fresh ginger, cardamom pods, cinnamon, cloves, black peppercorns, and star anise. You can sub ground spices for whole spices in a pinch!
- Black Tea– Most strong, rich, black teas will work well in Masala Chai- something robust enough to hold up to all the flavorful spices- use loose tea or tea bags.
- Milk – whole milk or plant-based – almond milk, oat milk soy milk, coconut milk.
- Sweetener– honey, maple syrup, or sugar
Best Tea for Masala ChAi
- I prefer to use a high-quality organic, loose black tea that I get in the bulk section of my grocery store. I use 1-2 tablespoons per serving.) Assam, Darjeeling or Ceylon.
- You can also use black tea bags. Typical brands used are Lipton Yellow Label, and Taj Mahal, and PG Tips. Some households will custom-blend their own teas to create their own signature flavor. This can be a very personal thing.
- Feel free to use decaf black tea.
How to make A Chai Latte
Step One: Lightly crush whole spices using a mortar and pestle.
Step 2: Simmer the crushed spices in 1 cup of water in a small pot or pan for 5-10 minutes.
Step three. Add the black tea. Then turn off the heat and let it steep for 10-15 minutes. Boiling the tea will make it bitter, so bring it to a boil, then turn the heat off.
Step four: Add milk of choice. If you prefer a “richer” masala chai- you can use all milk and skip the water, simmering the spices and tea, right in the milk. Or if you like a lighter masala chai, cut the milk with water. Up to you- a personal preference. I like half and half.
Step five. Heat and sweeten the chai. Bring the milk and tea just to a boil again, then add the sweetener.
Step 6. Strain and serve. Dust with a little cinnamon for fresh nutmeg.
And there you have it, Masala Chai as they make it in India. A delicious morning beverage or afternoon pick-me-up. I also love this in the evenings with decaf black tea.
Can Masala Chai be made ahead?
Feel free to brew a big batch of chai ahead, (leaving out the milk) and store it in the fridge. Then simply pull it out from the fridge and heat it up with the milk.
Masala Chai Tea Variations
During my second visit to India, when we primarily stayed in the North, it was very common to see chai brewed the same way, with the addition of fresh mint leaves. It was heavenly.
- Add fresh mint leaves.
- Add fennel seeds
- Add nutmeg
How to serve Masala Chai
Yes, it is very typical to serve chai in a glass (vs. a mug) in India, leaving some room at the top to hold the glass. But a cozy mug is perfect too.
Happy New Year, friends! May this cozy authentic Masala Chai bring comfort and warmth to help get us all through these cold months. You’ll also love our Mexican Hot Chocolate!
More Cozy Drinks
For another cozy, Indian recipe, check out our Indian Vegetable Curry or this Chai-Spiced Pecan Cake. You might also like our 15 Cozy Butternut Squash Recipes! And for something else cozy and sweet, try our Apple Pie!
Love and cheers, Sylvia
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Masala Chai Recipe
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 1-2 1x
- Category: drinks, tea, hot beverage, Indian recipes, vegan, winter drinks, fall drinks
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This authentic Masala Chai recipe is cozy and warm! Learn to make it like they do in India, using fragrant whole spices, black tea, and your choice of milk.
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 4–5 slices fresh ginger (or sub 1/2–1 teaspoon ground ginger)
- 2 cinnamon sticks (or sub 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon)
- 5 cardamom pods, crushed (or sub 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom)
- 2 whole cloves (or sub a pinch of ground cloves)
- 2 star anise pods (optional, but delicious)
- 5 peppercorns (optional)
- 2 heaping tablespoons loose-leaf black tea (or sub 2 black tea bags, or sub-decaf black tea)
- 1 cup milk (dairy or plant-based)
- 2–3 teaspoons maple syrup, honey, sugar, or alternative. (Sugar is traditional, but I prefer maple. )
Instructions
- Lightly crush cardamom pods, whole cloves, star anise and peppercorns, and place in a small pot with 1 cup of water. Add ginger and cinnamon sticks. Muddle the ginger a bit right in the pot.
- Bring to a simmer, simmer gently for 5-10 minutes covered, and turn off the heat.
- Add the tea (bring to a boil, then turn off the heat- don’t boil the tea, it can get bitter) and let it steep for at least 5 minutes.
- Add your choice of milk. Bring to a simmer once more, then turn off the heat.
- Strain into a chai glass or mug.
- Stir in your choice of sweetener, taste, and add more sweetener to taste. If it tastes bitter, you need more sweetener.
- Feel the love. xoxo
Notes
TEA: Any dark, rich, robust black tea will work best here. Assam, Darjeeling, etc. You can also make the tea part as strong as you like. Start with one heaping tablespoon of loose-leaf tea and add more according to your taste. Use loose-leaf or tea bags.
Milk: use milk of your choice- organic whole milk, almond milk, oat milk, soy milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, hemp milk (I like unsweetened, vanilla-flavored almond or oat milk). See notes for “ratio”.
SPICES: Whole spices are preferred here but in a pinch feel free to add or sub ground spices to taste. You can add the ground spices at the end if you like.
MILK RATIO: you can use ALL milk if you prefer. I typically use a ratio of ½ water and ½ milk. Many prefer the richness of all milk, so feel free to adjust to your taste.
BATCH MAKING: You can make a big batch of the masala chai (without the milk) and refrigerate for up to 4 days, and heat up with the milk and sweetener when ready to serve.
You can add more whole spices and more black tea for an even stronger, more concentrated version.
UPDATE: While in Northern India this past month, I had this Chai with the addition of a big handful of fresh mint leaves (simmering in the chai). ABSOLUTELY Delicious! Give it a try!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 16 ounces – using almond milk and 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Calories: 51
- Sugar: 6.1 g
- Sodium: 100.5 mg
- Fat: 1.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 8.9 g
- Fiber: 0.6 g
- Protein: 0.9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
5 stars! I would give it 10 stars if I could.
Thank you for taking the time to write this recipe, the Chai is excellent.
thanks so. much!
would you use the same amount of ctc? or would it be stronger?
Wanted to have the same drink at the stores and this was so good, much cheaper too!
For batch making, do we just multiply the ingredients per cup of liquid used? Also for the cinnamon stick the lengths I found at the store varied so how long would 1/2 stick be?
Thanks!
I use a 3 inch stick. yes multiply- you can try reusing the same spices – or cutting back, but I find it not as flavorful
Can I reuse the spices for my next batch or should I get a new set?
yes, but they won’t be quite as intense. I’ll do that sometimes too. 🙂
Hey is black cardamom allowed? I JUST went shopping for this recipe and noticed you wrote green cardomom 🙈
I’m sure it will be fine. Green is traditional but just use what you have!
Why called Masala chai if no chai used ???
Chai is the “black tea” in the recipe. 🙂
When you are storing the tea/spice concentrate in batch, do you strain out the spices and loose tea and just keep the infused water? I would assume they should be strained out or the continual steeping might get too strong and/or bitter?
You can do either. I like mine pretty strong so leave it in, but totally up to you. 🙂
This is wonderful, thank you! Where is the pot from? Looks so cool!
Thanks! It is an old vintage pot from an antique store. 🙂
Very complete recipe! Thank you 💫
I grew up drinking my dad’s chai (he grew up in several states in India) and I have never heard of star anise being in masala chai. There’s only ginger, cardamom, black pepper. I like to add cinnamon for extra heat, but only ever bark and not powder.
Hi, different areas in India use different spices. In the area I was in, Rajasthan they often used star anise and it gives a lovely flavor- but is not mandatory. 🙂
I made a generous amount and was going to save a cup for my daughter, but oh well. Very tasty! Nice blend of milkiness and spices.
My go to recipe buuuutt it is extremely light on the spices. I double the recipe for the same amount of liquids and it’s perfect
thanks it is delicious 😋
Thanks for the recipe, cant wait to try it once my cardamom pods come in! I was wondering where you got your white pot w/ the wooden handle. It’s so cute!
I got it at an Antique Store.
YUMMY
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us all, it turned out amazing! I don’t really like my chai too spicy though, what ingredients should I use less of? I don’t want to lose the authentic chai taste, just less spicy ness.
Just leave out the pepper!
A traditional chai sweetener in India would be jaggery. Its delicious and used in ayurveda.
thanks Joanne- appreciate this!
Made with cows milk/vanilla cane sugar and with oat milk/maple syrup… all delicious and *highly* addictive. I honestly don’t think I could ever order it from the drive thru anywhere again.
Haha! Love it Anna!
Hi Sylvia, loving this recipe. I’m keen to make a big batch and package it up as gifts for friends. Any chance you could let me know the weight measurements – counting all those peppercorns phew! 🙂
Sasha! I will work on this!
Nice post. Thank you!
Hello, Thanks for the detailed description and a great recipe!
Which loose black tea leaves works best please? I have rung my local bulk store and they stock Dargeeling and the other from Sri Lanka?
Hi, most dark, strong, black tea will work here. Darjeeling or Assam, or Keenu. Even basic Lipton yellow label works great, or PG Tips.
I found that placing the spices in a little cheese cloth bag (just grab some cheese cloth, cut a square, put in the spices and tie it up) let’s you skip the straining process.
hi. I stopped drinking coffee for more than a year now and homemade Masala Chai is my perker upper. 🙂 Recently I made it but i got busy with some chores that I boiled the spices too long, I let it steep for too long.. end results was.. it was too strong and bitter. I think the longer you boil the spices, it looses the aroma and the longer you steep.. the taste is bitter. To top it all off, the almond milk that I’m supposed to simmer only for 3 minutes, I forgot it too and suddenly bursting in hot boiling temp. hhaaayyyss. I was able to drink a cup by adding more almond milk then the rest, I placed it in a tight container while it’s hot and placed it in the fridge right away. After 3 days, wanting to drink my Chai.. it taste like awful soury yucky taste! Really don’t know what happened, first time to experienced this. Perhaps I didn’t let it cool before placing in the fridge or just the whole process was really wrong. I learned my lesson. So today I made again and this time… no more other chores or multitasking but concentrated on my Masala Chai instead. 🙂 I had my cup and the rest letting it cool before I put in the fridge. Masala Chai is llllooooooovvvvveee!!!!
Yes, It probably spoiled. I’m sorry. You are right- Never place something hot in the fridge with a cover or lid on it. It basically keeps all the heat in and slows the cooling down- the perfect breeding ground for bad bacteria. So doing this will make things go bad. Let cool on the counter, refrigerate uncovered, once cold, then cover. Sounds like you figured it out! Proud of you for trying again! 😉
Love this. I’ve always wanted to make my own chai and this recipe is fantastic. Thanks for the inspiration! I’ll be sharing with my friends xx
This was one of the best masala chai I have ever made!! It was perrrfect just like how we get it back in India specially in Northern India ( shimla, manali)
The sweetness made a big difference and i was happy to use it for that extra spiced chai. I will be saving this recipe and will be sharing it too with my mom who is a tea lover. Thanks so much Sylvia. Much love with some chai 😊