Office chai

Shruti began her new job this past week! This once again highlights the problem of how to make good chai in the office. Previously, I suggested a technique for making chai in a way that doesn't require a mug strainer. However, most people's work places have neither a mug strainer nor a stove top. Fortunately, microwaves can partially obviate the need for a stove top. Hence, use of a microwave together with a DIY tea bag enables one to enjoy chai at the office. Without further delay, here is the basic technique (a slight variation of a previous post):

Office Chai (one 8 oz serving)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• ~ 1/2 tsp Chai masala (equal parts of: coarsely ground black pepper, green cardamom seeds, cinnamon, and ginger powder)
• ~ 1 tsp Lipton Yellow Label loose tea
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 do-it-yourself tea bag
  

Technique

1. Combine the water and milk in a mug
2. Heat the water/milk mixture in a microwave (about 2 minutes on a standard microwave) careful not to let it boil over!
   
3. Meanwhile, add loose tea and masala to a tea bag
4. Add tea bag to the mug containing the hot water/milk mixture
   
5. Steep for 3 minutes
6. Remove and discard tea bag
7. Add sugar
8. Enjoy!

Similar to strainer-less chai, this method yields chai that is good albeit a little weak. I might suggest adding just a touch more tea and masala, and/or microwaving the water/milk mixture with the tea bag. I'll explore this in a future post.

Overall, this method produces results that are on par or even superior to a "chai tea latte" from Starbuck's or some other such shop - and costs $3+ less to boot! Enjoy!

Bulk masala chai

One cool thing about chai is that it's easy to scale up: I make 2 servings every morning (for Shruti and I), and the wonderful staff at the Crowne Plaza Hotel made 300+ servings for our wedding. The method is virtually the same regardless of the number of servings.

Hence, when our lab had our annual retreat last week, it was pretty simple to make 20 servings of chai to caffeinate the lab and spur some creative scientific discussions. Note that the ingredient list here scales up directly from the basic masala chai recipe.

Basic Masala Chai (twenty 12 oz servings)

Ingredients

• 1 gallon water
• ~ 10 tsp Chai masala (~3 tbs)
• 20 tsp loose black tea (~7 tbs)
• ~ 3" fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 gallon milk
• ~40 tsp sugar (~4/5 cup)

Technique

1. In a large pot, bring the water to a boil Note that this will take a long time for so much water!
2. Add masala, tea, and ginger to boiling water, reduce heat to a simmer, and steep 5-6 minutes



3. Add milk, raise heat, and return to a boil, stirring occasionally Note that this mixture will take about 10 minutes to boil on high heat



4. Add ~2tsp sugar to each 12 oz mugs
5. Strain tea into mug (discard used tea and masala), and stir to dissolve sugar
6. Let the chai cool for ~5 min and enjoy!

Note that here I use freshly chopped ginger, which adds spicy warmth and aroma to the chai. Freshly chopped ginger is not essential (especially when using ginger powder in the masala), but I highly recommend it, no matter how many servings you are making (add ~1/4" fresh ginger per 12 oz serving).

Although straining 2 gallons can be cumbersome, to say the least, it is doable with a simple mug strainer. There must be more elegant solutions out there; I'd love to hear them! I thought this recipe turned out pretty well, but I'll let the guinea pigs in the lab chime in.

Strainer-less chai

It's been a little while since my last post. And by a "little while" I mean 12+ months.

Thank you thank you thank you for sticking with me (or reading this blog for the first time!).

Rest assured that my absence is NOT due to a lack of interest in chai - I've experimented with and made chai the vast majority of days over the past year. A few very welcome events partially explain my absence. Yet, I have no good excuse. I can only hope it's enough that I am grateful you're still reading!

As I'm sure many of you can empathize with, drowsiness often haunts me during mid-to-late afternoon work/class/meetings. What also haunts me when I'm away from home is the lack of equipment needed to make chai. Nearly every time I feel drowsiness encroaching at work, I am painfully reminded of my lack of access to my favorite caffeine delivery system. I suspect I am not alone in this trap.

Alas! Shruti recently found a nice solution: do-it-yourself tea bags. There are a variety out there, but I've been happy with bags from Finum. So without further rambling, the technique:

Strainer-less Chai (one 8 oz serving)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• ~ 1/2 tsp Chai masala (equal parts of: coarsely ground black pepper, green cardamom seeds, cinnamon, and ginger powder)
• ~ 1 tsp Lipton Yellow Label loose tea
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar

Technique

1. Combine the water and milk in a saucepan
2. Heat the water/milk mixture over medium-high heat



3. Meanwhile, add loose tea and masala to a tea bag



4. When water/milk is boiling, add to a mug containing the tea bag
5. Steep for 3 minutes



6. Remove and discard tea bag
7. Add sugar
8. Enjoy!

This method yields pretty good results, though the chai is a little weak in tea flavor, a little light in masala flavor, and a little strong on the sugar (although, the latter is perhaps not a bad thing).

I suspect that flavors of the tea and masala are not as strong because tea bag imposes a barrier between the flavor "source" (tea+masala in the bag) and "sink" (water/milk). Weak tea and masala flavor may contribute to the strong sweet taste. Just a hunch. If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them.

The bottom line is that this technique is an acceptable alternative to basic masala chai when a strainer isn't available. I'd suggest using more tea and masala, and less sugar per serving to improve the flavor of this variation.