How can I make chai tea concentrate like Tazo Chai brand?

Answer 1

Chai is no simple black tea/orange pekoe thing with milk and sugar!

Chai has spices in it. That is what gives it, its' distinct flavor.

Cardamom, star anise, clove, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, ginger - these are what make it have that very aromatic scent.

My most basic recipe I make is like this:

(I like to use whole spices that I crack in a mortar and pestle)

Two to three nutmegs whole, cracked

9 cardamom pods (or two pinches of cardamom seeds if you can find them)

5, 2-inch sticks of cinnamon

3 star anise pods

a teaspoon of cracked allspice

a teaspoon of cracked black pepper

a tablespoon of cloves

3 tablespoons black tea - loose (you can usually buy this cheaply at an Asian or Indian grocer)

Sugar

Milk 1/2 gallon milk (whole is best in this situation)

1 to 1 1/2 gallons water

Bring your largest pot to a boil after filling it with fresh water and tossing in the spices, BUT NOT THE TEA. (I'm guessing it should be about a gallon sized pot)

Boil/simmer the spices until the water is a dark color - or until you like it's aroma. Which should be strong.

Add sugar or jagury (an Indian sweetener, I like it better, tends to be smoother, but don't use cane syrup or corn syrup - you'll wind up with something funky tasting) to taste. For every gallon of water I start off with, I usually add about a cup of jagury)

Slowly mix in the milk to the simmering spiced water - stir while doing so

Let come up to a boil, immediately remove from heat.

Add the loose black tea, cover and let stand for oh... 10-20 minutes.

Strain out spices and tea, let cool a little longer before putting it into pitchers.

It will keep for a week to two weeks depending on what kind of milk you use. If you use whole organic, it will store longer. If you use 'regular' store brand whole milk, you got about a week that it'll be fresh.

I generally omit the ginger, as I don't like it to overpower the taste of cardamom and black pepper.

My fast and dirty method though for making chai when I don't want to go through the trouble of making a large batch, is this:

1/8 teaspoon of star anise (it's got a strong licorice flavor, so unless you like it alot, be sparing)

1/4 teaspoon each of black pepper, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of cardamom,

1 teaspoon of tea leaves

Milk

Sugar/sweetener

water

In a saucepan - generally large enough to hold the same amount of liquid as a 'average' sized coffee pot, but only fill the pot to half way - boil water and ground spices for about 4-5minutes.

Add in sweetener, and milk.

Let simmer until it turns orange-ish.

Take off heat

Add black tea leaves

Let steep for about 5-10 minutes (or less if you like it weaker, or longer if you like it stronger)

Strain, serve.

The big thing with masala chai is this: if it smells 'right' it is right. You can adjust the amount of tea leaves, spices, milk, sweetener to your preference, that's what makes it so great in alot of ways. Most cooking, particularly of the Indo-Asian variety is a 'nose' thing. The nose knows what needs to go in to something to make it 'right'. It's a law of ratios and tastes. If you understand the spicing principles of various sorts of countries, then your nose will tell you how it should go from there. This isn't baking where you have to worry about a souffle collapsing because you forgot to add salt. This is an art of taste and preference.

What comes below is the original answer, which is simply sweetened tea with milk. Not chai:

boil water for 1 min, then put the tea bags in(orange pekoe) then wait until tea is dark red after that put milk in and allow it to boil up then drink. and put sugar in it

This will not come close to Tazo Chai, which is an oversweetend, dolled up version of traditional Indian chai masala with heavy vanilla added. Here is the ingredient list for Tazo Chai:

water, black tea, (black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, natural flavors and star anise), Cane Sugar, Honey, Ginger Juice, Natural Flavors, Vanilla and citric acid.

Here are two good sites for making chai at home:

www.ellenskitchen.com/bigpots/chai.html (has a recipe for a refrigerated concentrate)

www.chai-tea.org/recipes.html

Many Indian markets sell "tea masala" which is a pre-packaged blend to add to the black tea. I always end up adding more cardamon. If you can't find star anise, it is a part of Chinese 5 spice powder, which adds a Tazo-esque flavor to chai.