Sunday, September 27, 2009

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.

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