Chai Tea Recipe

Last Saturday Jason had to work all day, which sucked. But Rachel hung out over here all afternoon (attempting to do homework) and I tried out this awesome chai tea concentrate recipe. It was gone in two days, so of course this week I had to make more. Just not on the day I was cooking chili in the crockpot, because those would be conflicting smells. And chili is delicious, but I got tired of smelling it for eight hours!

Anyway. It's really simple -- you don't even need loose-leaf tea, although I'm sure that would be ideal. I just used eight plain black tea bags, some orange peel (being too lazy to zest it this time), two cinnamon sticks, anise seeds (use some other "pie spice" if you don't have these), 6-7 gently crushed cardamon pods, close to a teaspoon of peppercorns, about 1" of ginger root (peeled and cut into 4-5 slices), and 4-5 cloves. [The original recipe calls for a vanilla bean, too, but I didn't have any left. A little vanilla extract would be about as good.]

When I was done, I just put the chai concentrate in clean pickle jars and a swing-top bottle. All you have to do is heat it with equal parts milk and then add a little sugar or honey to sweeten it. Easy and delicious -- and it makes your kitchen smell wonderful. :)