This chai recipe is courtesy of my coworker, Satyen Desai. He was kind enough to bring a pot of this into the office. Chai has forever been changed for me.

Ingredients (for one cup)

• 1/2 cup water
• 2 flat tsps Wagh Bakari (or another loose-leaf black tea)
• 3 fresh mint leaves
• 2 pinches ground green cardamon seeds
• 1 pinch of my Grandmom's chai masala
• 1 pinch of fresh ginger and/or lemongrass (optional)
• 1/2 cup milk

Instructions

1. In a sauce pan, add water, tea, mint, cardamon, masala, and (optional) ginger/lemongrass and bring to a rolling boil
2. Add milk, lower heat, and bring to a rolling boil again
3. Take the pot off the heat before it overflows, let it settle back down, and put it back on. It'll continue to rise even when off the heat, so take if off before it reaches the top. Repeat a couple of times (more if you want it stronger)

Enjoy!

Grandmom's chai masala

Satyen admits you can probably get something close in Indian stores, but there's nothing like recipes from grandmom. A (I assume roughly equal) mix of the following, ground separately:

• black pepper
• green cardamom seeds
• cinnamon
• dried ginger
• clove

Chai image via Wikipedia