Homemade chai spiced syrup

Homemade chai spiced syrup
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Source Image and recipe: tastykitchen

Warm, aromatic spices, strong tea and steamed milk, make chai lattes the ultimate drink for any day: rainy, cloudy or sunny. Chai lattes are delicious, fragrant and somewhat expensive too when bought in cafes. If made at home, they may be a little time consuming too since they require a more complex preparation method than other teas.

If you love your chai teas and love everything chai flavored too, you might want to keep reading through this post, as I am going to share a very easy recipe for a homemade chai spiced syrup or chai concentrate that you can use in so many ways!

You can use this tasty and aromatic syrup to make your chai lattes simply by adding a bit to steamed milk, your can add it to cocktails, desserts and coffees to enhance their flavor and add a hint of spiciness, drizzle it on vanilla ice cream or yoghurt. The options are really endless!

The benefits to making your own chai concentrate are so many: It tastes absolutely amazing, it is free of unwanted additives and preservatives, it is easy to use, it saves you time from preparing a chai latte every time and it saves you money too since the ingredients are very cheap if purchased in bulk!

HOMEMADE SPICED CHAI SYRUP

Ingredients

  • 4½ cups Water
  • 9 tsp or 9 teabags Black Tea (I use Darjeeling Puttabong summer)
  • 1 piece fresh ginger chopped
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 6 whole cardamom pods
  • 2 whole star anise pods
  • 10 whole cloves
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • ½ teaspoons freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
  • ⅔ cups brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp vanilla

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. Lightly crush the cardamom and black pepper using a mortar and pestle or a knife.
  3. Place your spices (except the ginger) in a baking pan, and toast until they release their aroma (about 5 minutes). 
  4. Smash your ginger with a knife or using a mortar and pestle in order to release more flavor.
  5. Put the water into a saucepan and add your toasted spices, orange zest, ginger, honey (or maple syrup) and sugar on medium heat.
  6. Bring to a boil then simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes and keep stirring often. The more you simmer the stronger the flavor you will get.
  7. Add your tea and let steep for another 5 minutes while stirring.
  8. Remove from heat and strain to remove the spices and tea. Add vanilla extract and stir to combine.
  9. Pour into a clean jar with a tight-fitting lid. You can keep refrigerated for about 2 weeks or freeze in ice cube trays to add to smoothies!

Chai Latte

To make your favorite chai latte, use about 1 tablespoon syrup per 1 1/4 cups steamed milk or 2 tablespoons for a stronger flavor!

If you are fan of chai tea in general I suggest you take a look at this great chai tea kit which contains all the necessary ingredients to help you prepare the perfect cup of masala chai! It makes a great gift for chai tea lovers!

Enjoy!