It might look involved at first glance, but I promise this chai tea concentrate is super easy to make and worth the effort! The process breaks down into a few main stages:

Minor Figures - You can find us hanging out in East London; an unlikely mob of painters, jazz musicians, basketball players and barbers, brought together by a love of specialty coffee and all of the creative cultures in its orbit. Our plant-based products are made in the UK. PLANT-BASED MILK - All Minor Figures products are 100% plant-based, meaning our Chai Tea Concentrate is dairy free, naturally lactose free, sugar free and suitable for vegans and vegetarians. If you’re going to go through the effort of simmering, straining and making a concentrate you want to make sure that your ingredients are flavourful and potent.

Dry toast spices in a sauce pan over low heat on the stove for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Watch carefully and stir frequently so spices do not burn. I used coconut sugar which adds a nice caramel-like flavour. Brown sugar would also work. Keep in mind that dark brown sugar is sweeter than light brown sugar.

Tip: To make it last longer, freeze in ice cube trays and use in frappuccinos or iced drinks for a more potentness chai flavour.English Breakfast tea is fine since it’s usually a blend of strong teas. However, avoid blends like Earl Grey. Let the tea steep for 3-5 minutes. (Note: Do not over steep the tea as this will cause it to become bitter.)

Therefore, to allow the spices to have a chance to infuse in the water, I steep them first, followed by the tea. As soon as the tea has finished steeping, immediately pour it through a strainer into a large glass bowl or pitcher.

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A hot chai latte is made by warming up the concentrate and pouring steamed milk into it. Some milk foam can be scooped on top, as well. Altogether this can be done and ready to use in about 30 minutes – longer if you’re looking for a frozen or ice beverage. Decaf– as someone who is sensitive to caffeine, I love making my own tea and coffee recipes at home so I can control how much caffeine they contain. Look for decaf chai tea bags to make this delicious recipe caffeine free. TRADITIONAL BLEND OF INDIAN SPICES - Our chai has an authentic and exotic taste - At Henny & Joe's we’ve blended and infused cardamom, ginger, star anise, nutmeg, cloves, all spice, vanilla pods, mixed spice, fennel seed and cinnamon with, of course, a little un-refined sugar to help lift and bring the spices to life

Keep in mind, this recipe is for chai concentrate, so you’ll use at least twice the amount of tea per water compared to making a simple cup of tea. Boil the water and add sugar. Pour the water over tea and spices to steep. Chai Concentrate Without Whole Spices You can use honey or maple syrup (don’t use honey if you need this to be low fodmap or vegan). Honey and maple syrup are both much sweeter than regular caster sugars so only use half the amount of white sugar. In this case that would be about 5 tablespoons honey/maple. Because of this, I use a homemade chai spice blend that’s made of ground spices instead of whole. While the flavor of whole, toasted spices is unbeatable, the ease of using ground, pre-made spice blends is really what we’re focusing on here!It's important to have a strainer and bowl ready so the concentrate can be strained as soon as the tea has finished steeping.