Smelly...in a Good Way! (A Chai Tea Syrup Recipe)

I stumbled upon an adorable Chai Tea Syrup Recipe this morning and instantly thought it would be the perfect recipe for today's project. While we are not regular coffee drinkers (I think coffee beans are magically delicious, but I hate singing this song after I drink the stuff), chai tea has become JJ's favorite afternoon pick-me-up. We've had a pretty good relationship with Oregon Chai for the last fifteen years or so, but after purchasing Tazo's Chai Tea Concentrate 3-pack from Costco, we both fell in love with its blend. Now I refuse to buy Oregon Chai, especially since the last box I bought tasted like the company forgot to add important ingredients like black tea to their mix!

Not yet having made this month's Costco trip and after just relabeling the contents of my spice rack yesterday, I knew I had everything I needed on hand. As I got started, well, I kind of got a little crazy and completely strayed from the recipe of inspiration. I knew that JJ would reprimand me for doing this and so I created two different batches of Chai Tea Concentrate, creating my own version and also sticking (mostly) to Lucy's recipe. Sorry, JJ. Lucy's recipe is good, but was a little too sweet for me (I should have followed her warning). The only modification that I made was after adding one tablespoon of the recommended three tablespoons of vanilla extract. I stopped at one tablespoon.

Here is the creation that I came up with this morning. I started it in my crock pot, but then I got impatient and dumped everything into my stock pot and brought it to a nice, quick boil, while enjoying every minute of stirring and reducing, all thanks to the delicious smell!

Concentrate. I SAID CONCENTRATE!!!

Tasty spice sediment. Don't forget to shake!

Recipe: Spicy Chai Nectar Concentrate

Ingredients:

4 cups filtered water

2 Tablespoons black tea leaves (I used this tea, although any black tea would certainly do!)

1 large bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1 or 2 star anise pods

Two turns of coarsely ground black pepper (scant 1/4 teaspoon)

6 Tablespoons sweetener (I used granulated sugar since I ran out of honey today) or to taste.

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Bring all ingredients except for the vanilla extract and sugar to a boil, then simmer mixture while stirring occasionally. After a few minutes, add sugar and continue stirring until the concoction appears to be reduced by about half. Stir in vanilla extract and remove from heat. Strain out solids by pouring mixture into a large measuring cup through a fine mesh strainer.

This recipe yields approximately a little over two cups of chai tea concentrate. Pour into storage container, let cool, and refrigerate.

To serve: Add up to one equal part of your favorite type of milk to the concentrate and then heat in the microwave or on the stovetop. This may also be served chilled, although if you are going to serve it over ice, be sure to increase the amount of concentrate as it will most certainly become diluted. If you drink coffee, um...do whatever you're supposed to do with chai concentrate and coffee. :)

Please note: I recommend adding your sweetener to taste, keeping your preferred milk's natural sweetness in mind. For best results, I recommend testing the concentrate with your favorite milk and sweetening gradually until a nice balance is reached.

If you don't have all of the ingredients (like star anise), fear not. Play around and make your own brew! Why not? I would make sure that you start with a nice black tea base along with some ginger, and then add a gentle (and safe! ha!) blend of any combination of cardamom, cinnamon, fennel, peppercorn, cloves, and nutmeg. Use spices that sound appealing to you and intensify to your preference. I imagine a small amount of almond extract or maybe a teeny tiny bit of orange blossom water would work well with this, though I'm certain it would not be traditional.