All About Chai

Chai, also known as chai tea, is a delicious spiced milk tea from India. Traditionally chai is a blend of loose leaf tea with added milk, sweetener and spices. The word chai is pronounced with a long "i" sound as in the word "high", and is derived from the Chinese word "cha" which means tea. There is really no fixed recipe or preparation for chai, it basically depends upon a person's preferences, but the most common spices used for chai are cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. In India and other parts of South Asia, chai is known as masala chai. It has a distinctly different taste than most western versions of prepared chai which tend to be a little heavier on the sweetener and lighter on the spices.

In Kashmir, there is an interesting version of chai that is brewed with green tea, black pepper, almonds, cinnamon and sometimes even saffron. In many parts of India, chai is made with whole spices such as sliced ginger root, crushed pepper corns and very often with cinnamon sticks.

The spices in chai not only give it an exotic flavor, but they also have some added health benefits. For instance, ginger is said to strengthen the digestive system, cardamom can help with mental clarity and cinnamon can possibly help ease the pain of arthritis. Not to mention that the tea used to make chai is a great source of antioxidants.

Here in the U.S., chai is very popular and goes by names that include not only chai tea, but chai latte and chai spice. Some of the tea products on the market labeled as chai are technically more of a spiced tea rather than chai, because they're sold in tea bag form and obviously don't have any added milk or sugar. But once you add these things yourself you can make a delicious cup of chai.