Lightly Spiced Chai Tea

Nearly done with the Christmas presents now, last night was cooking night and we brewed up a big batch of Chai Tea, follwoing a recipe from The Kitchn, which we multipied by 5.

Ingredients
60 cardamom pods (about half a jar)
5 teaspoons mixed peppercorns
5 tablespoons fennel seeds (or 1 schwarz jar)
2 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 1/2 teaspoons whole cloves
5 cinnamon sticks (most spice jars seem to come with only 4 sticks, so you have to look hard)
200g chopped crystalised ginger
250g loose black tea

with the peppercorns, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and cloves, if you have the jar in the cupboard then you probably have enough as they are small amounts, but you will need a whole jar of fennel seeds, cinnamon sitcks and possibly cardamon)

Method
1. preheat over to 160 degrees C
2. with a sharp knife, split cardamom pods in half
3. toast in the oven cardamom pods, peppersorns, fennel, coriander, cloves and cinnamon for 5 minutes, or until spices are fragrant (we only did 3 minutes)
4. leave to cool for a minute or two
5. lightly crush with a pestle and mortar, breaking the cinnamon is easier with your hands, or ideally- get a man to do it!
6. thoroughly blend in the chopped ginger and tea

To brew, add about 1 tablespoon of the mix to a reusable tea bag then brew as you would a standard tea bag, but let steep for about 5 minutes, with milk and sugar to taste.

I'm not a big tea drinker, 90% of the time I want coffee, but this might just turn me and it smells so christmassy too :)

J x