Masala chai recipe: how we make it at home

This is our masala chai recipe: black tea and spices boiled in water, milk added, brought up three times, and strained into the cup. It takes about eight minutes and one small pan. The amounts are the same every time: one level tablespoon of chai, about 5 g, for each cup, with equal parts water and milk.

Masala chai ingredients, for two cups

• 2 level tablespoons of masala chai, about 10 g. Ours is whole-leaf Assam with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, clove and black pepper already in it.
• A scant cup of water (200 ml).
• A scant cup of whole milk (200 ml).
• 2 teaspoons of sugar or jaggery, if you take it sweet.

How to make masala chai on the stove

1. Boil the water with the chai. Put the water and the chai in a small pan and bring it to a boil on high heat. About two minutes.
2. Simmer for two minutes. Turn the heat down so it bubbles gently. The water turns deep amber. This is where the tea and spices give up their flavor.
3. Add the milk and bring it back to a boil, two or three minutes.
4. Let it rise three times. When it foams up toward the rim, lift the pan off the heat until it settles, then put it back. Do this three times. It thickens the chai a little and gives it body.
5. Sweeten in the pan, while it is still on the heat, so the sugar dissolves completely.
6. Strain into two cups through a fine strainer.

How much masala chai for 1, 2 or 4 cups

Cups	Chai	Water	Whole milk
1	1 level tbsp (5 g)	100 ml	100 ml
2	2 level tbsp (10 g)	200 ml	200 ml
4	4 level tbsp (20 g)	400 ml	400 ml

To make it stronger or milkier, see our water-to-milk ratio guide.

Three mistakes that spoil masala chai

• Starting the leaf in milk. Boil the tea in water first. Milk added too early keeps the tea and spice from brewing fully, and the cup tastes flat.
• Boiling the tea too long. A two-minute simmer is enough. Much longer and the cup turns harsh and drying. Here is how to fix bitter chai.
• Too little tea. A level tablespoon a cup is the dose. By eye, it is easy to use less, and the result tastes thin.

A quicker masala chai, in a mug

No time for the stove? Steep one level tablespoon of chai in half a cup of just-boiled water, covered, for five minutes. Strain, then add half a cup of hot, frothed milk. There are photos of every step in our brew guide.

Where masala chai comes from

Masala means a blend of spices. Masala chai is tea boiled with spices, milk and sugar, the way it is made at roadside stalls and in homes across India. If you want the longer story, read what masala chai actually is.