Cardamom chai with oat milk: the best recipe, hot or iced

Cardamom chai is the simplest chai there is: strong black tea, cardamom and milk. Made with oat milk it stays creamy, and the cardamom comes through clearly because there are no other spices competing with it.

The recipe below is the one printed on the back of our Cardamom pouch, adjusted for oat milk. The amount never changes: one level tablespoon of chai, about 5 g, for every cup.

At a glance

For	Chai	Water	Oat milk	Time
1 hot cup	1 level tbsp (5 g)	½ cup	½ cup	7 min
2 cups, on the stove	2 level tbsp (10 g)	a scant cup	a scant cup	8 min
1 iced latte (16 oz)	1 level tbsp (5 g)	½ cup	1 cup, cold	20 min with cooling

Three rules for oat milk chai

• Brew the tea strong, and cover it. Oat milk is lighter than whole milk, so a weak brew tastes thin. Our pouch uses Assam CTC, which brews dark in five minutes. A lid or saucer keeps the cardamom's aroma in the cup.
• Warm the oat milk, do not boil it. Many oat milks thicken or separate at a rolling boil. Heat it until it steams and stop there.
• Use barista-style oat milk if you can. It froths and holds foam. Some oat milks are already sweetened, so taste before you add sugar.

Hot cardamom oat milk chai

Makes 1 cup · about 7 minutes. You will need a mug with a lid or saucer, a small pan, a fine strainer and a milk frother.

• 1 level tablespoon of cardamom chai, about 5 g
• ½ cup (120 ml) water, just boiled
• ½ cup (120 ml) oat milk, barista-style if you can
• Sugar or maple syrup, to taste (optional)

1. Steep. Put the chai in a mug, pour the just-boiled water over it, cover, and leave it for five minutes.
2. Warm the oat milk. While it steeps, heat the oat milk in a small pan until it steams. Do not let it boil.
3. Froth. Take the pan off the heat and froth for about 20 seconds.
4. Strain and pour. Strain the chai into your cup, pour in the oat milk, and sweeten to taste.

Cardamom oat milk chai on the stove, for two

Makes 2 cups · about 8 minutes. The tea is boiled in water first, the way chai is always made. The oat milk goes in at the end and is only warmed, so skip the three rises you would give dairy milk.

1. Boil the water with the chai. A scant cup (200 ml) of water and 2 level tablespoons (10 g) of chai, on high heat. About 2 minutes.
2. Simmer for two minutes, until the water is deep amber.
3. Add a scant cup (200 ml) of oat milk and turn the heat down. Warm it until it steams, without letting it boil.
4. Sweeten and strain into two cups.

Iced cardamom oat milk latte

Makes 1 large glass (16 oz) · about 20 minutes, including cooling the chai.

• 1 level tablespoon of cardamom chai, about 5 g, steeped in ½ cup of just-boiled water, covered, for five minutes, then strained
• 1 cup (240 ml) cold oat milk
• 1–2 tablespoons sugar or maple syrup, optional
• Ice

1. Sweeten the chai while it is warm, so the sugar dissolves. Then let it cool completely, or chill it in the fridge, so it does not melt the ice.
2. Fill a tall glass with ice and pour in the chai.
3. Pour in the cold oat milk. One cup is our standard, one part chai to two of milk. Use 1¼ cups for a lighter glass, or ½ cup for a stronger one.
4. Top with oat milk foam if you like: froth a few tablespoons of cold barista oat milk until thick and spoon it on.

If you want more cardamom

Lightly crush one or two green cardamom pods and steep them with the chai. Strain them out with the tea.

Common mistakes

• Boiling the oat milk. It can turn grainy or separate. Warm it until it steams.
• Too little tea. Oat milk needs a strong brew. Keep to one level tablespoon a cup.
• Steeping uncovered. Cover the mug or pan so the aroma stays in.
• Sugar on top of sweetened oat milk. Taste first.

Which chai to use

Our Cardamom Chai pouch is Assam CTC black tea and cardamom, nothing else, and it is unsweetened, so you decide how sweet the cup is. A 150 g pouch makes 30 cups. If you would rather have the full spice, the same recipe works with our Masala Chai pouch, and here is how the two compare.

For the traditional version with dairy milk, see how to make cardamom chai, and there are photos of every step in our brew guide.