I’ve been a little under the weather today so I’ve been experimenting with various versions of Chai.
So far I’ve done one with Bai Mudan, one with a cheap darjeeling and two versions of Kashmiri Chai made with Samovar green tea, next I’ll probably make ginger tea with an assam.
The white chai included bai mudan 3 pods of cardamon, 1/2 inch of cinnamon stick, white pepper cracked, 1 arm of star anise, and ginger. I added two much cardamon this time, but otherwise it was pleasant, but mild and smells of baking.
The darjeeling chai had similar spicing but tasted of lemony mild ginger and pepper with gentle spice, the tea base underneath left hints of almond and peach, lemon and a bit of malt and was faintly floral.
The Kashmiri Chai was spiced with cardamon and cinnamon, I added a pinch of baking soda and salt to experiment with pink tea. I made it two ways, steeped to which I added crushed almond and boiled.
The steeped tea brewed to a peachy green colour and tasted of crushed
almond, bitter spinach ,a faint hint of sweetness from the tea base, cardamon and cinnamon. It tastes light on the tongue, especially at the front of the mouth. It does not taste of salt and soda.
For the boiled tea I added the tea, spices and water appropriate to amount of servings, and a pinch soda and salt. I boiled the tea so that 1/4 to 1/3 of the liquid was lost, I then added back the
lost water and boiled it 2-4 minutes. The boiled tea is a dark, opaque, browny red. Taken of heat if you add milk, it goes pink. The tea is smooth and looses the heavy tanic feeling of the steeped tea. I was surprised how dark and red the tea goes considering this is
made with green tea.
