Classical chai

Where to use this classic chai

Chai is a traditional Indian drink

Chai is a traditional Indian drink to enjoy at all times of the day although best not drunk in the evening if you add tea. In India, every restaurant serves chai. Indeed, it’s a national drink, consumed by everyone from all walks of life.

How to make your chai

• Traditional chai: grind 2 teaspoons of these chai spices with a pestle and mortar then add them to a saucepan of milk and water with 1 teaspoon of black tea and 2 to 3 teaspoons of sugar;

• Chai tea: add a teaspoon of black tea to your brew;

• Chai latte: add hot milk to your brew;

Chai Latte recipe

Ingredients

• 1 glass water;

• 1 glass whole milk;

• 2 teaspoons classic chai;

• 2 teaspoons sugar.

Method

Boil a glass of water and a glass of milk in a saucepan. Meanwhile, grind 2 teaspoons of chai spices with a pestle and mortar and add them to the saucepan with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Strain and serve piping hot.

What flavours does classic chai release?

Chai releases surprising and intensely spicy flavours that will instantly whisk your palate away to Mother India. Cardamom adds a lemony yet peppery hint, ginger is spicy yet mild, with the added sweetness of cinnamon and the bitterness of clove, whilst long pepper provides this mix with hot woody notes along with all its healthy benefits.

What is classic chai?

Where does classic chai come from?

This aromatic drink is made from a decoction of carefully selected and well-balanced spices. It’s not only great for quenching your thirst it’s also good for your mind and body. Terre Exotique’s classic chai is made from the usual chai spices: Ceylon cinnamon, ginger, green cardamom and clove. However, we have replaced the traditional black pepper with the more aromatic long Cambodian pepper.

Carefully selected spices

Ceylon cinnamon, from Sri Lanka, is the bark of the cinnamon tree from the Lauraceae family, which is the same botanical family as the avocado tree or the bay tree. Cinnanomum zeylanicum, comes from a tree which can grow up to 10 to 15 metres high, so just imagine how tricky the harvest is. The cinnamon tree grows mainly in Sri Lanka, but also in other tropical regions around the world. Cinnamon contains coumarin which can be bad for your health when taken in high doses. The recommended daily intake should not exceed 4.8 mg for an adult weighing 60 kg. The Indian ginger used in our mix is harvested by hand. This tropical perennial plant, whose botanical name is Zingiber officinale, is in fact a tuber. This rhizome is part of the Zingiberaceae botanical family just like cardamom, turmeric and Ethiopian korerima. Green cardamom come from the rhizome of the Elettaria cardamomum which comes from the Malabar coast in India, like Malabar pepper. Cloves are dried buds of the Syzygium aromaticum plant, which is a tropical tree part of the Myrtaceae family (like eucalyptus, myrtle or manuka) and come from the Maluku islands in Indonesia.

The history behind chai

Chai, or masala chai, or masala tea, has become an institution in India. Every contract is negotiated, every deal sealed, every friendship started over a cup of chai. Chai is the Hindi word in Indian used for tea. More often than not it’s a very sweet black tea. It is also called “masala chai”, as the word “masala” means a mix of spices using ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, star aniseed, fennel, clove, coriander, nutmeg, cumin and chilli pepper. The traditional chai recipe is over 5,000 years old and was first used for medicinal purposes in Ayurvedic treatments. In the 19th century, when the British brought this recipe back from India, chai became ever more popular in Great Britain and thereafter all throughout Europe.