Chai tea: latte mixes, tea bags and loose chai

Three ways to buy chai

Chai latte mix

A chai latte mix is a powder: you stir it into hot milk or water and your chai latte is ready, with no steeping and no straining. We have three flavours in 340 g packs: East Indian Spice, Vanilla and Rich Spice. The product page tells you how much powder to use per cup.

Chai tea bags

Tea bags are the quickest way to a classic spiced tea. Tea Cultures Original Black Spice Chai is chai the traditional way, with black tea. Tea Cultures Red Rooibos Chai uses rooibos instead of tea leaves, so it contains no caffeine. Bradley's Golden Chai No.35 completes the choice. All three come in boxes of 25 tea bags.

Loose chai

Green Chai is a loose chai from our own Café du Jour range, based on green tea instead of black, in a 100 g pack. Loose tea lets you decide how strong you make it, and you can simmer it in milk the traditional way.

What is in a spiced chai?

Recipes differ by brand, but these are the ingredients you meet most often:

• Black tea as a base, often Assam
• Cardamom for a floral, slightly sweet note
• Cinnamon for warmth and sweetness
• Ginger for a zesty kick; if you like that, see our ginger tea
• Cloves for depth
• Black pepper for extra heat

Does chai contain caffeine?

Chai made with black or green tea contains caffeine, though a cup usually has less than a cup of coffee. If you want the spices without the caffeine, choose a rooibos chai such as Red Rooibos Chai. That makes it the obvious choice for the evening.

How to make chai

With a tea bag or loose chai

1. Bring water to the boil.
2. Add a tea bag or a heaped teaspoon of loose chai per cup.
3. Let it steep for three to five minutes; for Green Chai, use slightly cooler water and keep it shorter.
4. Remove the tea and add milk to taste.
5. Sweeten with sugar or honey if you like.

The traditional way, in a saucepan

In India chai is usually made by simmering tea, spices, water and milk together in a pan for a few minutes, then straining it into cups. This gives a richer, creamier cup than steeping in a mug. Loose chai and tea bags both work; oat or almond milk can replace dairy.

With a latte mix

Heat milk, stir in the powder and froth it if you have a milk frother. For a dirty chai, add a shot of espresso: the coffee adds a lightly bitter note to the sweet spices.

A latte mix also makes a quick iced chai: dissolve the powder in a little hot water, then top up with cold milk and ice.

Which chai suits you?

Think about when and where you drink it. At your desk, a tea bag is fastest. At the weekend, a pan of chai simmered with milk is worth the few extra minutes. As a sweet treat, a latte mix is hard to beat for ease.

• Quick, creamy and sweet: a chai latte mix
• Classic spiced tea with milk: Original Black Spice Chai
• Chai in the evening, without caffeine: Red Rooibos Chai
• A lighter, fresher chai: Green Chai