Surely you have heard about the popular chai latte that coffee shops cannot miss. Despite its current boom, the chai latte is one of India’s oldest infusions in the world. It owes its name to the well-known café latte, even though it does not contain coffee among its ingredients. Before we learn more about chai latte, let’s talk about chai tea, where the drink originates.
What is chai?
In Asian countries, the predominant drink is chai instead of coffee. It is said that for every 30 cups of chai, one cup of coffee is consumed. Chai has been cultivated in India since ancient times and is known to be a relaxing drink with beneficial properties.
The term “chai” in Hindi means tea. It derives from the Chinese word “cha,” which means “tea.” For this reason, the word “chai” encompasses the different types of teas. Chai tea emerged in southern India. Its main ingredient is black tea and different hot spices such as cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves… It is also known as masala chai. Masala means “mixture.” The simple preparation of the masala chai is to steep the black tea in water and mix it with milk, sugar, and ginger.
Chai Tea Benefits
Chai tea is a drink with excellent health properties. Among these are:
- Promotes cardiovascular health
- Provides energy
- Effective Anti-inflammatory
- Regulates body fat
- Reduce the cholesterol
- Avoid nausea
- Antidepressant
- Controls appetite
- Natural aphrodisiac
- Improves metabolism
- Supports the immune system
- Rich in antioxidants
Now that you know the origin and benefits of chai tea let’s see what the famous chai latte is.
What is a chai latte?
The chai latte is an ancestral aromatic infusion that contains milk and black tea previously infused with spices. Various spices such as black pepper, cardamom, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger are used for their preparation. The mixture of these spices with milk achieves excellent harmony. The milk reduces the heat of the herbs, while the spices give the milk a different and unique flavor and aroma.
Differences between chai tea and chai latte
As you can see, milk is the main ingredient that makes a chai latte utterly different from traditional chai tea. In chai tea, the flavor of the spices is more potent and purer, while in the chai latte, they feel softer due to the presence of milk. They are two different drinks, like black coffee and coffee with milk—each with a particular taste.
Get to know our SLIM TEA CHAI
In our range of 100% natural functional teas, you will find our fruity and spicy SLIM TEA CHAI, ideal for losing weight quickly and effectively. It contains 16 natural herbs with Assam black tea, green tea, yerba mate, nettle, hibiscus, fennel, birch leaves, dandelion, horsetail, cornflower, peppermint, orange peel, raspberry, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, black pepper, turmeric, and ginger. Among its benefits, you will find:
- Detox effect
- Provides more energy
- Reduces abdominal swelling
- Avoid liquid retention
- Powerful digestive
- Fat burn
Preparation of the Chai latte with our SLIM TEA CHAI
With our SLIM TEA CHAI, you can delicately prepare your chai latte. Remember that among its ingredients, it already has a large number of spices. You can decide which ones to add if you want to increase the flavors present in your drink.
Ingredients:
6 teaspoons of our SLIM TEA CHAI
2 teaspoons of black peppercorns (Optional, it contains the tea)
10 cloves
2 anise stars
1 cinnamon stick
30 grams of fresh ginger (Optional, it includes the tea)
Cardamom (Optional, it includes the tea)
1 liter of water
whole milk to taste
Preparation:
1. Heat all the spices over medium heat in a saucepan to enhance their aroma and flavor.
2. Peel and chop the fresh ginger.
3. Add the water and ginger to the saucepan, and bring to a boil.
4. When it starts to boil, add the teaspoons of our SLIM TEA CHAI. The water should never come to a boil. Before removing from the heat, cover the pan and let it rest for 3-4 minutes.
5. Finally, strain and discard the spices.
6. Distribute the tea in the cups filling ¾ parts of their capacity.
7. Complete with the hot milk and the foam on top. Add cinnamon to taste and star anise as decoration. Usually, the proportions of milk and foam are the same.
Now that you know how to prepare your chai latte with our SLIM TEA CHAI, you can enjoy this delicious drink as often as you want. If you’re going to sweeten it, you can do it with sugar, honey, or some sweetener. Concerning milk, it can be cow’s, almond, or some other vegetable type if you want a vegan version. Prepare it and mention our social networks @caminodecabrashealth.