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 masala chai spice blend for tea makes for cozy mornings in no time at all.
And if you enjoy this recipe, you'll love my chai simple syrup recipe, too!
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love this Recipe
- How to Use Homemade Chai Tea Mix
- What You'll Need for this Recipe
- Substitutions & Variations
- How to Mix Chai Spices at Home for Tea
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How to Make a Latte with this Spiced Tea Blend
- DIY Chai Blend Video
- How to Use Chai Spice Other Ways
- Chai Spice Mix Recipe
- Homemade Instant Chai Mix
Why You'll Love this Recipe
Quick & Easy - You only need five minutes to mix up this simple chai tea powder with wholesome ingredients and no fancy tools. Then you'll only need about the same amount of time to make your lattes!
Customizable Masala Chai Flavor - When it comes to cozy morning drinks, I choose tea over coffee every time. And making chai lattes at home is part of my fall morning routine, especially because I work remotely. It's an easy aromatic, flavorful, comforting blend of spices and tea to start the day with.
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 Use Homemade Chai Tea Mix
I use chai instant tea mix to make homemade chai lattes in just a few minutes--like my lavender chai, cookie butter chai and pumpkin spice chai latte. And don't sleep on the ultra cozy autumn apple chai!
And lattes aren't the only drinks you can make with this dry chai blend--check out my easy chai martini recipe or bourbon and chai hot toddy if you want to try chai flavor in a cocktail.
And chai spiced eggnog is just perfect for the holidays!
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.
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 and it's the exact same spice level I use in my chai simple syrup recipe.
Substitutions & Variations
Decaf - Wondering does chai have caffeine? Yes, this blend contains caffeine by way of the black tea. But you can use a decaffeinated instant black tea instead.
Adjust the Spices - 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.
Check out the recipe card below for full ingredients list, measurements, nutrition facts, and step-by-step instructions!
How to Mix Chai Spices at Home for Tea
Step One: Simply add all the ingredients to an airtight container and mix them all up very well. And that's it!
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you prefer to cut down on steps and use dry sweeteners in your chai, 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.
Store this easy chai powder recipe in an airtight container, ideally in a dark, cool place like the pantry or even your fridge.
Nope! Unlike liquid chai concentrate, you don't have to store this dry mix in the fridge, which makes it travel friendly.
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.
Masala chai is historically made with high-fat water buffalo milk. You can use virtually any animal milk you like or make a dairy-free chai latte with the plant based milk of your choosing, including almond, coconut, oat, and soy.
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.
You can use whatever sweetener you typically take in your tea here. I recommend honey ginger syrup for extra ginger flavor or simple date paste for a lower glycemic option with lots of natural sweetness and nutrients.
DIY Chai Blend Video
How to Use Chai Spice Other Ways
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.
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
Homemade Instant Chai Mix
Equipment
- 1 mason jar or airtight food container
Ingredients
- 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 ground nutmeg
Instructions
- 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Joyce Puntillo says
Hi Jazzmine,
Been trying to find a chai tea recipe and yours is "PERFECT". Thank you!!! You made it simple and easy, you are a gift from the tea angels above.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving....
One more thing, thanks for the other recipes I will try, wish you lived next door!
Jazzmine Woodard says
Thank you for your feedback, Joyce. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one and hope you find many more recipes to love!
Deb says
I've been making homemade chai latte mix for a few years, but unfortunately, Lipton has stopped making their unsweetened iced tea mix. Any suggestions on a replacement? Could we add the rest of the ingredients to a cup of regular chai tea? I'm so sad. This was a daily enjoyment that I'm really missing.
Jazzmine Woodard says
Hi, Deb! Thanks for letting me know that the Lipton is no longer available. I recently purchased and tested a few options available on Amazon and found that One Organic Instant Black Tea dissolves even better than Lipton and has good flavor! Hope this is helpful.