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.

Campfire chai

For those of you who, like me, are perhaps too easily excited by 1) cooking things over a real fire, and 2) brewing and drinking chai, making chai over a campfire should be nearly irresistible.

As you know, building a campfire in the morning is a calming yet consuming ritual in itself; add to it making chai and the resulting post-camp morning experience is difficult to top.

The only departures I took from the basic chai recipe were to

• use a cheap, cast aluminum pot for the brewing vessel (obtained from Chinatown in Philly for <5$)>
• not worry about the chai spilling over when bringing the milk and water to a boil, since, hey, you’re outdoors
  

Below are pictures Shruti took when she, Jen, Kyle, and I went camping in Bass River State Park a few weekends ago. [update: Jen and Kyle may or may not have suggested that I link to their webpages...]

The beginning: boiling water (note the shiny new aluminum pot has not yet been covered in soot... it soon will be)

Adding the goodness: tea and masala
The critical step: adding milk

The penultimate step: straining

Chai Ice Cream

One of the most frustrating things about making iced chai is that I usually make it at night. Which is fine, except it takes extreme self-restraint not to consume the hot, aromatic chai and instead put it in the depths of the fridge to chill overnight.

So the other night after I made a pot of hot chai I splashed a few teaspoons on a couple scoops of Breyer's Natural Vanilla that I was having at the time. Several welcome results: hot chai melted the ice cream just a little in a fantastic blend of temperature and texture; creaminess of the ice cream enhanced the richness of the chai; and vanilla in the ice cream complemented the chai flavor extraordinarily. In another word: awesome.

I think there are several routes to go from here:

• Try a variety of ice cream flavors (chocolate, coffee, mint, ... suggestions?) with chai splashed on top
• Use vanilla in chai masala
• Find a way to make chai more 'syrup-y' for an ice cream syrup/glaze
• Try variations of chai ice cream ("chai float" suggestions for a better name?, chai on top of ice cream, incorporate chai flavor into homemade ice cream etc.)

No recipe here since the technique is simply to add a few teaspoons of basic masala chai to vanilla ice cream. Enjoy the flavors!

Essentials

Although basic masala chai may not at first appear amenable to daily making, if you have the right components on hand, it really is. While all of the topics below can be expounded greatly upon, I describe essentials to help you get started making a daily cup of chai.

Milk
Use anything from fat-free to whole milk.

Masala
This may be the most intimidating part of chai. Indeed, obtaining spices can be a barrier to making masala chai, but 1) non-masala (non-spiced) chai is delicious, and 2) if you make one trip to an international store you can pick up excellent spices that can last you over a year. Because most spices release their intense flavors when ground, it is best to purchase spices whole and grind them relatively fresh. Here are some tips for making your own masala:

• Buy green cardmom pods, black peppercorns and cinnamon sticks in whole form from an international store. Purchase enough whole spices to last you a year. Buy ginger powder also from the international store if you can, though many grocery stores carry it. Note to those in Philly: there is a great international/Indian store at 42nd Street & Walnut.
  
• Mix the spices in a roughly equal proportion by volume (use a little less cardamom since it is so potent). Mix enough spices to last you one month, keeping in mind you will use 1/2 tsp per cup of chai.
• Grind the spices in a dedicated spice grinder. A simple $15 coffee grinder works perfectly for this, but be sure to dedicate the grinder for spices unless you want chai masala-flavored coffee or vice-versa. Grind your masala as coarsely as possible, as this will help prevent flavorful oils from the seeds from leaching out until steeped with the tea.
• Keep ground spices in a jar in a cupboard since light, heat, and air are all detrimental to spice flavor.

Tea
While I haven't come across a 'bad' black tea for use in chai (including simple Lipton tea bags), I do recommend Lipton Yellow Label loose tea. You can find Yellow Label at international stores and perhaps even your local grocery store.











Strainer
A mug strainer is essential if you are using coarsely-ground masala and/or loose tea. You can purchase a mug strainer for ~$5 at any kitchen store. Be sure coarsely ground masala and curled tea leaves will not go through the strainer!











I hope these basic notes will help you share your own chai variations with all of us!

A special thanks to Shruti Mathur for helping with photography in this post.

Staple Chai Basic Masala Chai

Welcome to Chaientist! If you're reading this, you probably know Ravi, are wondering "what-ist???", or perhaps both. In any case, you'll find in this blog Ravi's experimentations with and variations on a centuries-old (at least... that's a debate for another time) drink: chai. And, when the experimenting goes well, you'll find recipes posted here for your own modifications.

Being a miserly grad student, I find pleasure in things that cost little but have a large payoff. Being a human being, I generally ingest things that appeal to my palate. Inexpensive but delicious homemade chai is thus a great start to any day. Being a scientist and engineer, I like to ask why things work, how they could be made better, and test my ideas experimentally. Chai-brewing techniques are relatively well-controlled, and are thus quite amenable to experimentation. Once my girlfriend introduced me to the ease of making chai, I was hooked, as it appealed to my palate (i.e., hunger) and inner (i.e., outer) scientist.

The goal of this blog is to trigger curiosity about and experimentation with chai so that you'll share your own thoughts, experiences and recipes via comments or conversations. I know that many people (including roughly 99.999% of Indian mothers) have their own special chai recipes; please email recipes to (chaientist at gmail.com), so that they can be shared with this blog community. Senders of recipes beware: your recipes may well be experimented on by others!

I'll begin with a basic recipe that I use when I don't really feel like doing an experiment. In future posts, look for variations on this theme!


Basic Masala Chai (one 12 oz serving)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup water
• ~ 1/2 tsp Chai masala (equal parts of: coarsely ground black pepper, green cardamom seeds and cinnamon, and an equal part ginger powder) [update: to clarify my sloppily-written instructions, this masala is composed of equal parts black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and ginger powder!]
• ~ 1 tsp Lipton Yellow Label loose tea
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 tsp sugar

Technique

1. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil Careful not to let too much water evaporate and distort the all-important water:milk ratio
2. Add masala and tea to boiling water, reduce heat to a simmer, and steep 2-3 minutes
3. Add milk, raise heat, and return to a boil, stirring occasionally Keep an eye on the pot, as milk-based mixtures will boil over rapidly
4. Add sugar to a 12 oz mug
5. Strain tea into mug (discard used tea and masala), and stir to dissolve sugar Be sure to use a strainer that won't let the tea leaves through
6. Let the chai cool for ~5 min and enjoy!

Update: I changed the title from Staple Chai to Basic Masala Chai, because despite Kyle's comment (below), there are no staples in this recipe!