Recipe - Single-Serving Chai Tea

The balanced blend of spicy warmth, soothing sweetness and a creamy texture make this the perfect start to the day, especially if you're feeling stressed and over-wrought from the working week, or if you're feeling a bit under the weather.

Most people will be aware that chai tea is an Indian drink. And for those who are acquainted with the traditional Indian chai tea, I should state upfront that this is probably not going to be very similar to what you had in India (I use assam tea, rather than ceylon or darjeeling, for example, as I prefer the full-bodied flavour), but it makes a very comforting drink on a cold, wet weekend. Or any day, in fact!

Ingredients

A thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
2 cloves
3 peppercorns
3 cardamom pods
1 small cinnamon stick, or 1tsp ground cinnamon
500ml cold water
2 Assam teabags
300ml whole milk
35g golden caster sugar or demerara sugar

Method

Put the water in a medium-sized saucepan and put it on a medium-high heat. 

Using a teaspoon or knife, gently scrape the bark away from the ginger. DON'T peel it! The anti-inflammatory goodness in ginger lies right under the skin, so you'll lose that if you get out the potato peeler. Once you've removed the bark, slice it into thin slices.

Using a pestle and mortar, if possible, lightly crush the other spices, to release their flavour.

Add the crushed spices and the ginger to the water. If you're using ground cinnamon, throw that in as well (warning: using ground cinnamon does mean a skin will form on the tea, but it can be a lot cheaper than buying cinnamon sticks and it doesn't really impact the flavour). Bring the water to a slow boil and let the spices stew in it for 3 minutes. Then add the teabags, reduce to a simmer, and leave for 5 minutes, so the tea has time to strengthen.

Remove the pan from the heat and take out the teabags. Pour in the milk and sugar, stir well to make sure the sugar dissolves, then return to the heat. As soon as it starts to boil again, it's done.

STRAIN!!!!! This is why:

Don't really want to be slurping all that down, now, do ya!?

And there we have it! The beautiful, warming, soothing flavours of chai tea in a suitably sized mug-bucket. Enjoy!