chai tea & other ramblings...

Trevor & I (but mostly Trevor...) are watching stand up comedians on netflix.. I'm laughing because he's laughing. He loves stand up comics. I however think a few jokes are funny but I rarely laugh out loud. We are so different yet so alike. 

Like chai.. we both love chai! I like it spicy & he likes it sweet. figures.
For a few weeks now I've been wanting to try out this recipe...after all of our moving craziness passed & Trevors new job transition. I finally had some time to give it a try today.
What I love about this recipe is the ability to tweak it however you want.. you can make it sweet or spicy or tea-y. My first try turned out great! This recipe isn't an exact science just ratios that you can adjust as you want.

Chai ConcentrateYields: 1 batch of concentrate, approximately 4 cups
tweaked it from this recipe 

4 1/2 cups water

8 bags black tea – I used orange pekoe

2 bags cinnamon  cardmon tea (I used this instead of whole cardamom since I didn't have any)

2 cinnamon sticks

2 vanilla bean, split in half (or 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract added at the very end)

1/2 cup raw cane sugar (you can add more or less depending on how sweet you like your chai) you can also use other alternatives

6 pieces of candied ginger or you can use 3" pieces of fresh whatever you have available

10 whole cloves (I used ground)

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 whole star anise pods

1/2 teaspoon of whole black peppercorns

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/2 cup ginger juice from making candied ginger (which is what I used as ginger & in gingersnap cookies I made recently) 

1 tablespoon raw honey more or less depending on your sweet tooth

Prepare the teabags by removing any tags if there are any and tying them all together. Prepare the spices, vanilla bean and orange zest by laying them in your cheesecloth, I leave my cinnamon sticks out to make the little pouch of spices a bit more compact. Tie the cheesecloth pouch shut with a small piece of kitchen twine. If you leave the cinnamon sticks out, just tie them together with kitchen twine.

I skipped this cheesecloth & used the mesh strainer. 

*If you don’t wish to use cheesecloth, you will just add all of your spices directly to the pan when the time comes and strain them out after.

Add the water and sugar to a medium sized saucepan and bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and put in the tea bags, cheesecloth pouch and cinnamon sticks. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat strain the concentrate through a sieve or just remove the tea bags, cheesecloth pouch and cinnamon sticks. At this point if you want a bit more sweetness you can add a tablespoon of honey, stir to dissolve. I don’t always do this, but it is a really nice touch. Additionally, if you didn’t use a whole vanilla bean, add your vanilla extract now. Stir to combine.

Allow the mixture to cool before pouring it into an airtight jar or container. This amount fits perfectly into a 1-quart mason jar. Store in the refrigerator for up to one week.