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Epicurious

Iced Chai

5.0

(4)

Photo of two glasses of iced chai with ice cubes.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Liza Jernow

Most iced chai lacks that burst of spice flavor that you taste in hot chai, in part because all flavors taste less intense when cold. This recipe overcomes that challenge in two ways: by grinding the spices a little finer to intensify flavor extraction and by simmering the spices and tea in milk to hydrate them and fully bloom their flavor. The tea is then immediately cooled with a method inspired by Japanese flash-brewed iced coffee. Cooling the strained tea with an equal volume of ice cubes chills it quickly while also allowing it to reach an ideal tea-to-water ratio.

Think of the milk-simmering stage a bit like blooming your spices in hot ghee or oil before cooking with them—the fat helps to extract a full range of spice flavor that you wouldn’t get by simply steeping in hot water. (Whole milk is preferred, but most dairy and plant-based milks will work.)

This iced chai recipe gives you a spicy cup with a hint of sweetness. It gets its bold flavor from a generous dose of cardamom, but feel free to customize and lower the cost by using less or swapping in a different spice.

Cook's note:

You can make this chai by the cup if you prefer. Use one quarter of all ingredients. Bring milk and spices to a boil in a small saucepan over medium, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes. Add tea, reduce heat to low, and simmer 2 minutes. Strain into a measuring glass and stir in sugar. You should have about ½ cup chai concentrate.

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