Classic Masala Chai
The one your grandmother measured with her eyes. We wrote it down.
Same drink, three depths. Switch anytime — beginner steps assume no scale, barista steps assume no fear.
Masala chai is not tea with spices added. It is a decoction — tea, milk, and fresh-crushed spices boiled together until they stop being ingredients and become one thing. Every household has a version. This is ours, and it works from the very first pot.
The method · Beginner
Crush the spices
Crush the cardamom, ginger, clove, cinnamon and pepper — coarsely, not to powder. Whole spices flavour water slowly; crushed spices give everything up in one pot.
Boil spices in water first
Water and crushed spices into the pan, and boil. Spices release their oils in water, not milk — this order matters.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeAdd the tea
Add the tea leaves and let them boil until the water turns a deep reddish brown.
⏱ 1:30 timer in guided modeAdd milk and bring it up
Pour in the milk and bring the whole pot up to a rolling boil. Watch it — chai's favourite trick is escaping the pot.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeSimmer to strength
Lower the heat and let it simmer. The colour you want is somewhere between biscuit and brick. Taste at 2 minutes.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeSweeten and strain
Stir in sugar or jaggery, strain into cups from a little height, and serve immediately. Chai does not wait.
The method · Enthusiast
Build a masala, not a dust
Per two cups: 4 cardamom, 1 inch ginger, 2 cloves, ½ stick cinnamon, 2 peppercorns, crushed fresh. Pre-ground chai masala is a compromise; use 1 tsp if you must.
Decoct the spices
Boil spices in the water portion 3 minutes before any tea enters the pot.
⏱ 3:00 timer in guided modeTea to a 2-minute boil
1.5 tsp strong CTC per cup. Boil 2 minutes — enough for colour and body, short enough to avoid harsh tannin.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeMilk, then the double rise
Add milk, bring to a full rise, drop the heat, and let it rise once more. The second rise is where the body comes from.
⏱ 3:00 timer in guided modeAerate
Pull a ladleful and pour it back from height a few times. This "pulling" cools, mixes and builds the silky texture of stall chai.
Sweeten with jaggery off the heat
Jaggery can split milk on a boil — stir it in after the pot comes off. Strain and serve.
The method · Barista
Ratio and leaf
1:1 water to full-cream milk, 3 g CTC per 100 ml water. CTC for body and colour; add a pinch of orthodox Assam for aroma if you want a top note.
Staged spice extraction
Hard spices (cinnamon, clove, pepper) in from cold water; cardamom and ginger at the boil — their volatile aromatics fade with long boiling.
⏱ 3:00 timer in guided modeTannin management
Total tea boil under 4 minutes across the whole process. Beyond that, astringency climbs faster than strength.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeThe double rise + pull
Two rises, then aerate by pulling between vessels 4–6 times. You are emulsifying milk fat and building microfoam the street way.
⏱ 3:00 timer in guided modeServe at 70 °C, small cups
Chai is a short, hot drink. 90–120 ml pours, sweetened to sit just under the spice heat.
↑ Level it up
Enthusiasts do a proper spice decoction and the "double rise"; baristas stage the spices — hard spices from cold, aromatics at the boil — and pull the chai between vessels to build that street-stall silkiness.
Questions we always get
Can I make it without milk?
You can, but then it is spiced black tea, not masala chai. For a dairy-free pot, full-fat oat milk holds a boil best; add it late and keep the simmer gentle.
Why does my chai taste flat?
Whole, uncrushed spices or old pre-ground masala. Crush fresh, every time. It takes forty seconds.
Tea bags or loose tea?
Loose CTC is stronger and cheaper. If tea bags are what you have, use two per cup and press them at the end.
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