We are moving the concentrate to a larger facility, so the bottle is paused for a
short while. Rather than leave you without, here is the recipe behind it, scaled for a kitchen stove:
strong CTC Assam simmered hard and strained fine. Two ingredients, twelve cups in the fridge,
under twenty minutes.
Under 20 minutesMakes 750 ml · 12 cupsKeeps 5 days coldUnsweetened, vegan
Two ounces of concentrate and cold milk over ice. This is recipe two, below.
Why we are giving this away.
Demand has outgrown our kitchen. We are expanding into a larger commercial facility here in
New Jersey, and while we make that move, production takes a short break. There is more to come
on the new place, and I will keep you updated.
In the meantime I would rather you had chai than a “back soon” badge. This is our concentrate recipe, at home quantities. It comes out close enough to
the bottle to enjoy, and it takes two ingredients and under twenty minutes.
— Santhosh
Recipe one
The concentrate. Strong and dark.
Two ingredients. A liter of water goes in; about 750 ml of concentrate comes out. That is the
reduction doing the work — do not rush it, and do not top the water back up.
Time
19 min
Makes
12 cups
Keeps
5 days
2 minutes
Water to a rolling boil
One liter in a heavy pan. The spices are already in the pouch, so there is nothing to
peel or crack.
10 minutes
In with the mix, then leave it alone
Twenty-five grams — about eight heaping teaspoons. Drop it to a strong simmer, lively but not violent,
and walk away. It turns from amber to deep mahogany and loses about a quarter of its volume.
5 minutes
Steep off the heat
Lid on, heat off, five minutes. The steep gives the concentrate its body.
2 minutes
Strain twice
Once through a fine sieve, then again through a paper coffee filter or a square of cheesecloth into a clean glass
jar. Skipping the second pass leaves fine tea dust,
which turns the concentrate bitter.
Then
Cool, lid, fridge
Leave the lid off until it stops steaming, then seal and refrigerate. Keep it cold and use it within five days.
It has no preservative, so keep it in the fridge, not on the counter.
Freeze half. Pour it into an ice-cube tray. Two cubes, dropped into hot milk, is a cup of chai in ninety
seconds — and frozen it keeps three months, not five days.
How to pour it
Three ratios to start from.
1 : 1.5
Hot
2 oz concentrate, 3 oz hot milk. Stir once. The everyday cup, and the way the bottle was designed to be drunk.
1 : 3
Iced
2 oz concentrate over a tall glass of ice, 6 oz cold milk. Ice dilutes, so the concentrate has to carry more.
1 : 1
Kadak
Equal parts, hot. The strongest of the three. Maybe not before bed.
Sweeten the concentrate rather than the cup. Sugar, honey or maple stirred in while it is still warm dissolves
completely and stays even from the first pour to the last.
Recipe two
The iced chai latte, with cardamom cold foam.
Three minutes and one glass. The cardamom foam on top is optional.
Time
3 min
Makes
1 glass
Milk
Any
Sweeten the concentrate, not the glass
If you take it sweet, stir the syrup into the concentrate now. Sugar dissolves in chai; it sinks in ice.
Fill the glass with ice, all the way
A tall glass, packed. Half-filled ice melts faster and waters the drink. Pour the concentrate over the ice,
then the cold milk on top. Do not stir yet.
Twenty seconds of foam
Cream and a pinch of cardamom in a small jar. Handheld frother for twenty seconds until it holds a soft peak
and just pours. No frother: shake it hard in the sealed jar for thirty.
Spoon, dust, drink
Spoon the foam over the top. A last pinch of cardamom on the foam. Drink it through the foam, and stir only
when you want the bottom third stronger.
The dirty version. One shot of espresso poured through the foam. Cut the concentrate
to 1.5 oz so the drink is not too strong.
Can I make the concentrate with the whole-leaf tube instead of the CTC pouch?
Yes. Use 30 g instead of 25 g and simmer two minutes longer. Whole leaf gives a rounder, more layered concentrate; CTC gives the darker, punchier one closer to our bottle.
How long does homemade chai concentrate keep?
Five days in the fridge, in a sealed jar. It has no preservative, so keep it cold from the moment it cools and do not leave it out. Freeze it in ice-cube trays for up to three months — two cubes make a cup.
Why is the concentrate unsweetened?
So it works hot, iced, with dairy or oat, and for people who take it without. Sweeten the concentrate while it is warm and the sugar dissolves completely.
What ratio of concentrate to milk should I use?
Hot: one part concentrate to one and a half parts hot milk. Iced: one part concentrate to three parts cold milk over ice. For a stronger cup, use less milk.
