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Recepie
What
is Garam Chai, people sometimes ask us?
Literally
translated, "Garam Chai," means "Hot Tea."
To those of us who grew up in India, traveling in trains
meant waking up to the familiar cries of Chai.... garam
chai! floating above the cacophony as the train would
come to a grinding halt at a busy junction. With GaramChai.com,
we attempt to evoke that nostalgia for desi stuff, community
and belonging which, well, only a Garam cuppa Chai can!
Categories of popular Indian Tea / Chai include : Green
Tea, Assam Black,Darjeeling Black,Dooars Region, Kangra
Valley, Nilgiri Hills, Oolong Teas, Flavored Teas,Exotic
Teas and Herbal Tea
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Recepies
for a Typical Cuppa Indian Garam Chai
A traditional
drink of India, masala chai has become a popular beverage
worldwide. While you may certainly purchase teabags or tea
leaves at your local grocery store, you will achieve a more
authentic flavor if you make it yourself using the following
recipes.
Ginger
Tea (Adrak Chai / Garam Chai Tea) |
Ingredients
Water
1-1/2 cup
Milk 3/4 cup
Sugar (or Honey) to taste
Tea leaves 3 tsp.
Crushed ginger 1/2 inch |
Method
1.
Add ginger to water and bring the water to boil. Reduce
the heat and let it cook for 5 minutes over medium heat
with pan partially covered so that you get a nice Ginger
flavor
2. Add sugar (or honey), tea leaves and milk.
3. Bring to boil and then remove the pan from fire.
4. Strain tea into the cups. |
Cardamom
Tea (Elaichi Chai) |
4
cardamom pods
2 tablespoons honey or sugar
1/4 cup Milk
3 tsp Tea leaves
1 1/2 cup Water
|
Method
1.
Break and crush cardamom pods
2. Add crushed cardamom to water and bring the water
to boil. Reduce the heat and let it cook for 5 minutes
over medium heat with pan partially covered so that
you get a nice cardamom flavor
2. Add sugar (or honey), tea leaves and milk.
3. Bring to boil and then remove the pan from fire.
4. Strain tea into the cups. |
Chai
Tea |
Ingredients
* 2 teaspoons fresh ginger root; grated
* 1 whole star anise; broken up
* 1 teaspoon orange peel; grated
* 4 pieces cinnamon sticks; 1 1/2 inch
* 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
* 10 whole cloves
* 5 whole peppercorns
* 5 cups water
* 1/4 cup black tea leaves; (like Assam or Darjeeling)
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/4 cup honey [Or Sugar]
* 3 cups skim milk |
Method
1. Bundle up the first seven ingredients in a length
of cheese cloth and tie it together with a string. This
is called a bouquet garni (pronounced "boo-KAY
gar-NEE").
2. Place the bouquet garni in a pot of water. The string
should be tied to the handle for easy removal later
on.
3. Bring the water to a very low boil, then reduce the
heat and simmer. Boiling water may extract too much
bitterness from the tea leaves.
4. Add tea leaves and continue simmering for 15 minutes.
5. Remove the bouquet garni.
6. Strain the remaining liquid through a sieve to remove
tea leaves.
7. Add Sugar/honey (vanilla if you wish) and milk.
8. Serve. Pour the mixture over crushed ice if you're
serving it cold. This makes eight servings. |
Tips
- Tea
leaves can release too much bitterness if exposed to hot
water for too long. The general rule of thumb when making
an "infusion" such as this is that the longer
the ingredients remain in the liquid, the stronger their
flavor will be. Experiment with a variety of leaves and
time durations to see what works best for you.
- Feel
free to experiment with other techniques such as using green
or white tea instead of black tea leaves. Other variations
could use soy milk instead of skim milk. Or you could use
a different sweetener than honey, such as rice syrup or
maple syrup.
- If
you don't have cheesecloth or find it messy to deal with,
you can purchase empty paper tea bags from a tea shop. Fill
it with your spices (and another with tea leaves if you
wish), close it with an inexpensive bag clip, then discard
it when done. Many local indian shops also sell inexpensive
tea strainers
- The
proper name for the drink known as "chai" or "chai
tea" is "masala chai." The word "chai"
is Urdu, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese and Russian for "tea",
while "masala" is Hindi for "spice".
If you say you are making "chai" that would mean
that you are making plain tea. Thus both words are necessary.
- There
are four kinds of cinnamon: China Cassia, Vietnamese Cassia,
Korintje Cassia and Ceylon Cinnamon. Ceylon is twice as
expensive and well worth it. Try all four or a combination.
[Source: wikihow.com]
How
to Taste Tea
A tea
drinker can have a quite uncritical palate and yet derive
enormous enjoyment from tea; knowing how to tea-taste in any
formal sense is not a prerequisite to appreciating it. But
having some discrimination about what you sip from your teacup
heightens appreciation and thus makes tea drinking more rewarding
and interesting.
Tea tasting
is a way of exploring the world of fine tea to become aware
of the characters different teas have and to learn to distinguish
the difference in quality among ordinary, fine, and superlative
teas. The kind of amateur tea-tasting we advocate falls far
short of the experience, practice, and skill necessary for
professional tea-tasting but it will without doubt enhance
your enjoyment of tea and can be as interesting and entertaining
as wine-tasting, coffee-sampling, or cheese-nibbling.
Professional
tea tasters are more concerned with evaluating tea quality
than appreciating it, but these two aspects of tea tasting
are closely allied. A description of why and how then experts
taste helps tea lovers understand what they can learn from
even very simple comparative tastings. Link from: Recipes
for preparing tea
Other
Links
Chai
on Wikipedia
More on Garam
Chai, Hot Tea
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Note: Page last updated: Feb 2018
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