Masala chai is a beverage made from tea that involves boiling black tea in a mixture of milk and water and a mixture of spices and aromatic herbs. It originated in India and is often referred to as Indian masala chai but has since gained global popularity and is served in tea and coffee houses around the world. Some coffee houses make the drink using steamed milk (calling it ‘chai latte’ or ‘chai tea latte’) much like the method used to create a caffe latte except that instead of coffee a spice tea concentrate is used.
Traditional masala chai ingredients include green cardamom pods, ground cloves, cinnamon sticks, ground ginger and black peppercorns mixed with black tea leaves which is boiled with milk and water. The term ‘chai’ is a Hindi word which is a derivation of the Chinese word for tea, ‘cha‘.
