A beautiful day with all my loved ones laughing by my side and chatting away to glory. An immense sense of tranquility and a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest — all is well in my world. This is how I feel every time I have a cuppa tea. With this elixir in my hand, I am in a sanctuary of love and happiness and nothing else matters.
My first foray into the magic realm of tea was when I was a six-year-old kid. I was down with a very bad cold and cough and my mom made me this tasty concoction with milk, sugar, and spices. The instant relief it provided me had a lasting impression on my mind and since then we have been together — till death do us part.
My fondest memory is of my grandfather and me huddled together over the stove in the kitchen on a cold winter day making tea in a saucepan. He was a master tea maker, and a true aficionado like myself from whom I learned to make tea for the first time. Till date, every time I am in the kitchen making tea, it reminds me of the good ole times.
The Magic to making a perfect cup of tea lies in the process of brewing. Kudos to my dearest person and a gourmet cook in his own right, my son Nav, who enlightened me with this insight, and with whose help have I been able to perfect the art of tea making to the very last detail.
Chai means tea and masala means spices, in Hindi, an Indian language. Spices are seasonings that you add to the tea to enhance its flavor and come from seed, fruit, root, stem or bark of a tree or plant. Some common spices include, cardamon/cardamom, cinnamon, black peppercorns, cloves, star anise, licorice roots, ginger, fennel seeds, and holy basil. There are different varieties of tea, but they all come from the same plant Camellia Sinensis. The top leaves are plucked and processed to transform them into dried leaves for brewing tea. The various categories of tea undergo different manners and degrees of oxidation which determine their color, taste, and strength. My favorite is black tea, which is a darker and bolder strength of tea.
Tea also has amazing health benefits. To name a few out of an endless list, it calms and rejuvenates your nerves, is a very good antioxidant, and great for your immune system. I am a living testament to its therapeutic benefits: it has and continues to make a world of a difference in my life.
Come join me in making this refreshing beverage together.
Ingredients for 2 cups of hot tea
Two and one-fourth cups water
Three cardamon/cardamom pods
Half teaspoon fennel seeds
Two to Three whole peppercorns
One inch ginger grated, keep the left-over piece
One and one-fourth teaspoon black tea loose leaves, I use Brooke Bond Taj Mahal tea
Half cup milk
Sugar to your liking
Tools needed
Saucepan
Strainer
Your favorite cup
Instructions
1) In a saucepan take two and one-fourth cups of water along with cardamon/cardamom pods, fennel seeds, peppercorns, and both grated and left-over ginger. Cover the pan and set it on the stove burner at medium low heat — the corresponding knob settings on my stove are between 3 and 4. Let it sit there for 8 to 10 minutes or until the water starts boiling. The idea is to let the oils and flavors from the spices infuse in the water — your kitchen will be fragrant with the wonderful aroma of the spices.
2) Now, remove the cover, and reduce the heat to a low flame — corresponding to a setting between 2 and 3 on my stove. Add the tea leaves and let it steep for another 7 to 9 minutes. By now the color of the water infused with tea leaves will be a very dark reddish-brown color.
3) Add milk and increase the heat to medium high, which is between 4 and 5 on my stove, and let it sit for another 8 to 10 minutes or until the tea starts boiling and has a nice creamy beige tone. Remove the pan from heat. Cover it and let it sit for another minute.
Letting the concoction sit and steep after the addition of each ingredient is very important to allow flavors to mix nicely with each other resulting in a nice balanced flavorful tea.
4) Take a strainer and rest it on the rim of your cup and pour the tea in the cup through it. Remove the strainer with the tea leaves in it and rest it on a plate. Add sugar to your liking, stir, and enjoy the lovely brew with your favorite cookie or snack!
Footnotes
*You can add more tea leaves or milk depending on how strong or light you like your tea. For a stronger brew add more leaves and for a lighter cuppa add more milk. The steep times can also vary based on your taste.
*There is an extensive list of spices you can choose from and add to your tea.
*If this is your first-time making tea, I would suggest follow the instructions to a T, and then experiment with different ingredients and steep times to make your very own perfect cuppa.
* All stoves may not have the same knob settings as mine. The knobs numbers mentioned above correspond to the heat settings on my electric stove. So please set the heat settings the recipe calls for based on your stove/cook top.