Ran out of coffee and decided it was a good day for chai, but had no chai, either.

Tried this combo: 6 or so green cardamom seeds, scant teaspoon black peppercorns, scant teaspoon whole cloves, three inch stick cinnamon crumbled, scant tablespoon fennel seeds, 1 star anise, tablespoon minced ginger, four cups water.

Boiled for five minutes, simmered another ten minutes, threw in five teaspoons green tea (Republic of Tea Gu Zhang Mao Jian tea, it was that or Lipton's), simmered another five minutes. Strained, added a little honey and milk. Very tasty.

Picked out some of the ingredients from an open package of mixed Chinese whole spices, including a thing that looked like a nutmeg with a stem but it got squishy so probably wasn't a nutmeg. No idea what it was.

Next time will add real nutmeg (probably mace, actually) and vanilla bean, and Darjeeling.

Anybody else like chai?

Believe it or not, I got this recipe from a friend who lived in Santa Cruz in the mid-80s. Haven't made it in years, though.

Combine one gallon water, 5 tablespoons whole cardamom, 1 tablespoon peppercorns, 5 tablespoons chipped cinnamon sticks, 2 tablespoons whole cloves, and 1 cup grated fesh ginger; simmer for four hours. Add 1/3 cup English Breakfast tea and steep 5 minutes. Strain, and honey* and water to make one gallon. Keeps in the refrigerator a week or two. Heat the mix with milk for a cup of chai.

*my recipe reads "4 1/2 cups 1/4 cup"; so perhaps "to taste" is a better measure. 4 1/2 cups would be outrageous.

Yes, but four 1/2 cups would be two cups, which wouldn't be quite so bad

Considering how much trouble it is to make this stuff, making it in bulk wouldn't be such a bad idea. Maybe not a gallon, though.

I like the additional flavors of star anise, fennel seed, and vanilla bean. Today I made it with Constant Comment, and the orange is a nice blend, too. Reminds me of something my grandmother used to make she called Russian Caravan Tea.

Honey to taste, for sure. Most pre made chai blends are ridiculously sweet.

Yeah, but your kitchen will smell great all day. BTW, this is a very spciy brew. I cut back on the black pepper and ginger, else it gives me the hiccups.

This one is called "Khorshed's Chai", after a now-deceased friend in India who made the best chai I've ever tasted:

16 cups water
8 cups whole milk
16 bags English tea
1 stick cinnamon
8 cloves
2-inch chunk fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
12 peppercorns
3/4 cup honey

Boil spices in water 20 minutes. Add tea bags and allow to brew for ten minutes. Remove bags (leave the spices). Stir in the honey and milk, and serve. (It should be noted that in India, it's often water buffalo milk. But our cow's milk works very well.)

We only make this when we entertain groups of people. That's a lot of tea for two people...

While I can't make any claims about the relative proportions, this is pretty much exactly how Mom makes hers, so this sounds pretty ajust saying this is pretty much the way I remember having it in India.

What I do on the rare occasions that I make chai and am feeling somewhat industrious, is to make several portions of the dry stuff wrapped up in cheesecloth. Then, whenever I get the urge for chai, I throw one of the cheesecloth packets in a teapot along with a couple of tbsp of tea (usually Darjeeling or Ceylonese), some hot milk and a squirt of two of honey. Perfect for a cold winter tea, along with my dad's "nimki" (fried dough pieces made spicy with 'kaloo jeera' or black cumin).

I had a real "d'oh!" moment recently when I tripped across a quick and easy recipe for chai in Neelam Batra's 1000 Indian Recipes. Pared down to essentials, the idea is to heat a mixture of milk and water with black tea leaves and whole spices, then let steep for a few minutes and strain. The spice flavor is a bit muted, of course, but it makes a great drink nonetheless.

I've been using the following formula: one cup 1% fat milk, two teaspoons Assam tea leaves, a teaspoon of sugar, a broken cinnamon stick, a few crushed cardamom pods (green and/or black), a clove or two, a few anise seeds.... you get the idea... heat just to boiling and steep three minutes.