If you're here, reading this, I'm sure you'd agree that chai is delicious! But, we've all experienced a bad one; more often than not that's because it was brewed incorrectly. If you've bought (or made your own) chai, and you want to truely enjoy it and explore its flavours, then this guide to brewing is for you. I'll take you through both the regular and traditional methods to making the perfect cup.

But first, a few tips...

Tips On Chai Brewing

1. Sweeteners

• I love to use local honey or agave syrup. Be mindful of honey as you want to use one that is mild in flavour, so it doesn’t alter the taste of your chai too much. 
• Also, honey should be added last to the Chai, once you’ve turned it off the heat and strained into your teapot and left to cool slightly. If honey is heated, over 60 degrees Celcius, it can transform into a toxic substance, causing the raw honey to pasteurise. This is known as "ama" in Ayurveda, meaning undigested food or toxins stuck within the digestive tract. 
• Agave is an ideal natural sweetener made from a succulent known as the blue agave plant. It has a lovely clean sweet taste that won’t alter the taste of your Chai and is a terrific alternative.

2. Milk

Chai LOVES milk that has a little more fat content, creating more of creamier chai so that it doesn’t taste to watery. For a really creamy chai always use more milk to water ratio.

Creamy milks and alternatives

• Full cream milk
• Lactose free full cream milk
• Soy milk- I use the Bon Soy brand
• Oat milk- I prefer the 'Oatly Oat Milk Barista' brand. This is my absolute favourite.

When using a thinner milk alternative such as almond, you might want to use 100ml of water and 400ml of almond as an example. Full cream milk you can get away with half water half milk. It's really a trial and error until you find what you love best!

Brewing Instructions 

How to brew the perfect cup of chai from home.

I have prepared an instructional video on how to brew chai, both regular (no milk) and traditional.  Enjoy! If you have any feedback or questions, leave a comment on this post.

Also, here's a few of our TeaEsk chai options for you to check out.

• Vanilla Chai
• DIY Chai Blending Kit
• Chai Brewing Set

Traditional Chai Method

• Bring 250ml of fresh spring water to the boil and add 4tsp of chai tea, brew for 4 minutes.

• On the stove, heat 250ml of milk of your choice (I use the Oatley Oat milk Barista blend) on low heat.

• Once brewed, add your tea infused water to the milk (tea leaves and all) and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

• Strain into a teapot or straight into your drinking cup.

• Add 2 heaped tsp of a sweetener of your choice or to desired taste (I love to use honey).

If you want to try and do what the Chai Wallah’s do in India, pour the chai back and forth (from pot to teapot), aerating the chai is said to help bring out the flavour of the spices.

Black Brew

• Boil cold water to 100 degree Celsius, and pour into teapot.
• Add chai immediately. Use 1 tbsp per 250ml water
• Brew 4 minutes
• Add sweetener of your choice