You can make coffeehouse-style chai lattes at home in just a few minutes with this easy chai powder recipe in your pantry. My authentic chai spice blend for tea makes for cozy mornings in no time at all.
When it comes to cozy morning drinks, I choose tea over coffee every time. And making chai lattes at home has become part of my morning routine, especially when I work remotely. The process is much easier than you might think with my chai instant tea mix. So today, I'm putting you on game with this aromatic, flavorful, comforting blend of spices and tea to start your day with. Let's get into how to mix chai spices at home for tea.
If you like flavorful sauces and spice blends, check out these posts next.
What You'll Need for this Recipe
Authentic chai is deeply aromatic from a complementary combination of spices that are earthy, warm, sweet, and a bit spicy. With a traditional masala chai blend, ginger and cardamom are dominant flavor notes, with some combination of peppercorn, cinnamon, nutmeg, start anise, and fennel also often incorporated. Westerners usually add allspice and a lot more cinnamon to the mix. My blend incorporates the elements of an authentic masala chai recipe with lots of ginger and cardamom plus a handful of other spices, including allspice. So, what spices are in chai latte mix?
- Allspice
- Black Pepper
- Cardamom
- Cinnamon
- Clove
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Unsweetened Instant Black Tea
This will likely be a spicier chai than you would get from, say, a Starbucks type coffee shop. If you want to make your chai spice blend sweeter, lean into the cinnamon and nutmeg. And dial back the ginger, clove, black pepper, and allspice a bit, if you don't want it to be as spicy. As far as tools, I recommend a mason jar or other clear, seal-able container to store your tea blend in and a long-handled spoon like a bar spoon for mixing everything up easily and with no mess. And that's it!
Homemade Chai Tips
- Can I add sugar to my chai mix? If you prefer to cut down on steps and use dry sweeteners in your chair, you can certainly add sugar to this mix. to taste. Granulated sugar, brown sugar, and coconut sugar would all work well. I prefer to sweeten a chai latte with either raw honey or maple syrup, so I just add sweetener when making the drink.
- How to store chai spice mix? Store this easy chai powder recipe in an airtight container, ideally in a dark, cool place like the pantry or even your fridge.
- Wait, so do I have to refrigerate instant chai? Nope! Unlike liquid chai concentrate, you don't have to store this dry mix in the fridge.
- Does chai dry tea mix go bad? Dry chai tea powder lasts for about one year when stored properly. Technically, it does not go bad in that it spoils or becomes unsafe to consume. But the quality of the spices may start to degrade after this point, making the blend less potent. Essentially, it might not taste as strong or at all the same after a year's time. This recipe makes about 90 servings, using one teaspoon per drink, so you would probably finish it before a year passes, anyway.
- What milk to use in chai lattes? Masala chai is historically made with high-fat water buffalo milk. You can make a dairy-free chai latte with the plant based milk of your choosing, including almond, coconut, oat, and soy.
- Does chai have caffeine? Yes, this blend contains caffeine by way of the black tea. You can use a decaffeinated instant black tea instead.
- Is it redundant to say "chai tea?" Short answer is yes. The word "chai" translates from several different languages around the world to "tea" in English. So when you say "chai tea latte," you are actually saying "tea tea latte". There are different types of chai, including masala chai, which we covered. Each region in India has its own blend.
How to Make a Latte with this Spiced Tea Blend
A latte combines steamed milk with espresso and sometimes sweetener. I'm tapping into my barista experience to give you a rundown on how coffee shops make chai lattes in three simple steps below with a video for my fellow visual folks!
- Add chai blend and sweetener of your choice to a heat-safe container then carefully pour in steamed milk.
- Use a frothing wand or an immersion blender to combine the mixture and froth the milk.
- Carefully pour mixture into a mug and enjoy warm.
DIY Chai Blend Video
How to Use Chai Spice
Although chai is traditionally combined with milk for drinking, I should note that you can do much more than make lattes with the tea blend. You can actually use it with hot water, instead of milk, and your choice of sweetener for a comforting mug of spiced tea. I also like to incorporate it into recipes, from baked goods to air-popped snacks. Here are a few of my favorite recipes to use chai spice.
- Buttery Chai-Spiced Popcorn
- Dark Chocolate and Chai Baked Oatmeal
- Pumpkin & Chai Snickerdoodle Cookies
I hope you use this easy instant chai mix for making tea quickly in the morning for the perfect marriage of convenience and coziness. And sharing is caring so be sure to pin this DIY chai latte mix over on Pinterest. Thanks for reading!
Chai Spice Mix Recipe
DIY chai blend for authentic spiced tea at home
- 1 ½ cup unsweetened instant tea
- 1 ½ tablespoon ground ginger
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
Add all ingredients to a jar or other clear, seal-able container.
Using a long handled spoon, mix spices and tea until the blend looks uniform in appearance (about two minutes).
You can also seal the container and shake vigorously to combine. It may still be necessary to stir mixture with a spoon.
To use: mix one teaspoon of chai powder with cup of hot milk or water for drinking.
Recipe Video
One teaspoon is the recommended serving size.
Store mixture in an airtight container in a dark, cool place when not in use. Keeps for up to one year.
Marta says
We all love Chai. Your spice blend's flavors were perfectly balanced. Perfect way to get the afternoon started, since it has cooled down some.
Katrina says
We used this Chai Tea blend for a fall family fun night and it was a big hit!! 💖
Crystal says
I am not a fan of tea. However, the only one I've been able to tolerate is Chai, and this spice blend is perfect!
Kate says
This tasted amazing! Planning to make several batches to give to friends during the holiday period.
Stephanie says
This Chai Tea was so tasty and such a relaxing start to the day.