Chai Tea

I drink a lot of chai tea, but I usually make it with milk instead of water. I want to cut down on dairy so should i opt for a non dairy milk or make it half and half with water and milk?

well, first problem is knowing your problem

Your first problem is that you call it "chai tea". Chai translated to tea. Meaning you are calling it "tea tea". I don't blame you, its just the way its marketed.

Second is knowing HOW you want to cut down milk. I mean are you trying to eliminate it completely or just limiting its use? Heres a few recipes we use in sub-continent that might be of interest to you. This is how we make tea there

Regular tea: Boil a mug of water (add sugar if you like), when the water is violently boiling, add 1/2 tea spoon of black tea. Boil it more for about 2-3 minutes. Now when you pour it in a cup, you can use 1 tbsp of powdered milk if you like. Or some evaporated milk. If you prefer regular moo-cow milk, I would suggest using it while boiling (around the time you add sugar). This way you can limit your use of milk rather than eliminating it completely

doodh patti: boil a mug of milk, as soon as milk starts boiling, put half a tea spoon of black tea in it with sugar (if you like). Wait about 2 minuets

ilaichi chai: start boiling a mug of water, add some milk into it (as much as you prefer) with 2 pods of cardamom. As soon as it starts boiling, add 1/2 tsp of black tea with sugar. Boil for 2 more minutes,

If you take away the cardamom from the above ilaichi chai then that is regular indian chai. If you make that 1 tsp of black tea in it then it is tadak chai. If you add Jaggery in the start of boiling process in any of those chais then it becomes "gur chai" (or "gud chai")

This is how we make it in Pakistan and many areas of India.

Hope this helps you a bit. Good luck.

Also, if you just like the taste of tea, then you can make it the way arabs make it. Boil water with sugar (if you like) and then add some black tea to it, let it boil some more. Done

Also, if you just like the taste of tea, then you can make it the way arabs make it. Boil water with sugar (if you like) and then add some black tea to it, let it boil some more. Done

We arabs don't necessarily do it this way. Different arab countries do it differently... Lebanese tea is not the same as Egyptian or other teas. I've actually never heard of adding the sugar to the water because most people will drink different levels of sweetness in their tea. We prefer loose leaf tea to tea bags, but there are some pretty tasty arab black tea bags in arab stores.

On another note, I don't drink cow's milk. I add almond milk to my tea and love it... if you are used to the taste of almond milk. If you're not used to non-cow's milk, I say get used to it first before adding it to your tea.