I have always been a bit of a sucker for warm, sweet drinks. From tea to hot chocolate and even the occasional horlicks. I’ve recently developed a bit of a thing for Chai Lattes. Costa make a really good one but my favourite so far has been from Marks & Spencers cafe.

I can’t always have my lattes at a cafe .. Unfortunately.

So I had to recreate it at home. Now you can buy sachets ( similar to the hot chocolate ones you can get ) or capsules for fancy coffee machines but there didn’t seem to be any decent recipe on line for making your own using spices and tea bags.

I of course had to experiment and it took a fair amount of attempts but I’ve cracked it. Well in my humble opinion anyway!

There is room for a little flexibility and of course everyone has different preferences on how sweet or creamy they like it but one thing which is not negotiable is the foamy milk. It’s a must! I get mine all frothy in the Vitamix but you can buy fairly cheap milk frothers which will give the same result.

Chai Latte

You will need:

1 Twinings Chai Tea Bag – I’ve used others but I love this one
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon palmyra jaggery powder or sugar substitute ( or sugar – up to you )
1 cardamom pod
2 cloves
1 tsp of light coffee mate
100ml of hot water
100ml of milk

Add your tea bag, cardamom pod, cloves, palmyra jaggery and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to your hot water, stir and leave to infuse for 6 minutes. Add your coffee mate to your milk. I then heat and froth my milk using my Vitamix but if using a standard frother you will need to heat your milk first. Remove your tea bag and pour the infused tea through a sieve into a clean mug or latte glass, add your milk (reserving a little foam) leave to settle, top with a little foam and sprinkle on a little cinnamon and brown sugar or more palmyra jaggery.

It is creamy, spicy and tastes incredibly indulgent. Bliss and calm in a cup.

Honey would make a good substitute for the palmyra jaggery or agave. You can of course use sugar and cream if you like but I prefer the lighter, healthier taste for everyday.