When it comes to a tea full of flavor and spice, chai is the tried-and-true go-to. Traditional to India, chai tea is a black tea brewed with a mixture of spices—most commonly cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, black peppercorn, and ginger. Black tea on its own is good for your gut, metabolism, and hormones, but including these other spices ups the health factor even more. Ginger, for example, is also good for digestion, and cardamom has some anti-inflammatory properties.
Another perk of chai tea is that the recipe is adaptable, depending on your preferences. Craving something creamy? Make it with almond milk instead of water. Too hot out for a steaming cup? You can still reap all the benefits while having it iced. The options are endless—making homemade chai tea the way to go if you’re looking for a new go-to drink.
Check out these five delicious ways to make homemade chai tea.
1. Classic homemade chai tea
If you’re looking for a homemade chai tea recipe that will cover all your bases, Gimme Some Oven blogger Ali Ehbright has you covered. Her recipe works whether you’re having your chai tea iced, hot, or want it in concentrate form so you can work it into other recipes. (Chai “nice cream” anyone?) Besides the usual spice suspects like cardamom, black peppercorn, cloves, and ginger, she also adds vanilla bean, nutmeg, and allspice.
2. Masala chai tea
My New Roots’ Sarah Britton loves to make herself masala chai tea on cold, dreary days. The secret ingredient that makes her recipe such a standout: licorice. It makes the flavor profile even more robust and can help boost your mood—which is definitely needed on those days when the sun refuses to come out.
3. Adaptogenic chai latte
Never heard of adaptogens? They’re herbs that support the adrenal system and when taken over time they can help lower stress. Pretty incredible, right? And they can be worked right into your chai tea, which is exactly what Choosing Chia blogger Jess Hoffman does with this recipe. (She recommends eleuthero, ashwagandha, or cordyceps). While any alt-milk works, she recommends homemade cashew milk for maximum creaminess.
4. Vanilla chai tea white Russian
Want to spice up your happy hour? Chai tea can even be worked into your cocktail. Here, Half Baked Harvest blogger Tieghan Gerard mixes is with honey, vanilla, vodka, Kalua, and cream. It only takes ten minutes to whip up a batch for you and your friends.
5. Spicy chai concentrate
My First Mess creator Laura Right works this spicy masala chai concentrate recipe into a whole slew of healthy snacks, like granola or cookies. But of course it’s great as-is simply brewed with water, too. She makes her concentrate with orange, which only adds to chai’s amazing immunity boosting superpowers. Brewing a batch after hours? She says it tastes great with whiskey, too.
Two other teas worth your attention: matcha and barley.
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