Indians are known for their warm hospitality and if you go to any Indian home, you will be welcomed with a cup of warm tea or chai (Hindi term) as its known to the world, accompanied with some homemade snacks like samosas, pakodas, bajjis or cake.

In India, there are different types of tea leaves, depending on the region they are grown like, Darjeeling Tea, Assam Tea or Nilgiri Tea. You will find that in most homes,Brooke Bond Red label (Assam Variety) or Taj Mahal Brand, which gives tea its color, and Darjeeling Green Label, which is aromatic & full of flavour, are used to prepare chai or a blend of both are used to prepare Masala Chai.Generally Brooke Bond is the preferred tea powder to prepare Masala Chai Tea as it has a stronger flavour and goes well with the masala spice. You can use tea bags instead of loose tea powder.

Here’s how to prepare a wonderful cup of plain chai or Indian tea

Ingredients for Plain Chai
1 ½ cups of water
2/3rd cup whole milk ( or you can use 2% or skim milk)
3 tsps sugar (it depends on your choice)
3 heaped tsps of loose black tea powder (any brand of your choice)

Add water to a stainless steel vessel and bring to a boil. Add the milk and sugar and bring it to boil again and simmer. Add the tea powder and once the mixture rises to the brim remove from heat immediately and turn off heat. Let it sit for 2 mts. Now use a fine mesh tea strainer to strain the tea.This serves 2 cups of simple plain chai. If you are using skimmed milk or 1%, decrease the amount of water and use more milk. You can use whole spice instead of the pre-ground spice mix for more potency of the whole spice.

Preparing tea is an art and I grew up watching my mom preparing tea and learnt how to make Masala Chai from my her and this moment takes me back to happy summers spent at home sipping awesome tasting masala chai.Each home has its own spice blend to make Masala Chai. We make our spice mix or masala chai spice mix by coarsely crushing the whole spices (green cardamoms, black pepper, ginger, cloves, cinnamon.)

Ingredients for Masala Chai
1 ½ cups water
2/3rd cup whole milk
3 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
3 heaped teaspoons any loose black tea or 4 single tea bags
1/4th teaspoon Masala Tea mixture (Pound 1 cinnamon stick (1” inches),
2 green cardamom pods, 2 black peppercorns, 1 clove, 1/2 tsp ginger powder)

Add water to a stainless steel vessel and bring to a boil. Add the masala tea spice mixture. Let it boil for a minute. Now add milk and sugar and bring to boil again and simmer. Add the tea powder or tea bags. Once the mixture rises to the brim remove from heat immediately and turn off heat. Let it sit for 2 mts. Use a tea strainer and strain the tea into two cups and serve hot.

Note: You can play with the spices to suit your taste and you can replace Masala Chai mixture with a pinch of cardamom powder or ginger powder or fresh ginger.

Masala chai doesn’t have a subtle smell and this brewed tea translates into a very nice masala flavour which isn’t overpowering. Whenever we were down with the cold blues my mother would add ginger and black peppercorns to the tea instead of the usual masala mix.Its highly recommended as this blend has all the benefits tea has to offer with addition of medicinal herbs and spices. Tastes awesome and doesn’t overwhelm the taste of tea. You can read more about how to fight cold with effective home remedies like ginger tea, herbs and spices here