If you can get CTC leaves and some store-bought chai masala, you can a pretty good chai at home:

1 cup whole milk

1/4 cup water

1 tsp CTC tea leaves

1/2 to 1 tsp masala, to taste

1-2 tsp grated ginger

Bring it to a boil in a saucepan, and either lower your burner to medium, or move the pan so that it's only half on heating element, then boil it for 4 minutes and pour it through a strainer. Add about 2 tsp sugar or honey.

Many indians will use much less milk, and low-fat at that. And that's because they're pussies.

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I'll likely come asking you for directions again if/when at some future time I get my hands on some. It's too rare for me to remember this recipe, but thanks!

No problem 😃

Any tips on homemade chai masala? (I'm sensitive to lots of foods, so store bought is almost never an option)

I recorded the weights of the spices I used last time I made a blend. It made a ton, so you could probably cut the numbers by 5x. But this is a pretty good blend, and you can adjust it how you like with whole numbers.

- 100g green cardamom seeds (no pod)

- 66g black pepper

- 12g cinnamon

- 6g nutmeg

- 6g cloves

Blend them in a spice grinder and you're good to go. If you really like cinnamon, you can double its weight. And you can add other spices like star anise, fennel, etc. there are probably thousands of ways to make chai spice blends.

Legend, thank you!

You can use preground spices too, to make the blend. But because they're a fine powder, you'd use less per cup. Coarser grinds you can use more of and boil longer with more water.