Vanilla Chai Tea - Homemade is Better!

My friends and I have a favorite place to grab a bite to eat here in town - Cafe 11. It's on A1A less than a block from the beach, and they serve the yummiest chai teas. You can get them hot or cold, vanilla or spiced.

I always order one when I go, and often stop in and grab one for the road. It gets a little pricey that way though, much like stopping into Starbucks all the time.

Last year I made my own Vanilla Hot Cocoa Mix, so I figured the same principals would work with making my own chai tea mix. It sort of reminds me of making Russian Tea mix, which I used to drink as a child from time to time. However, this is much better!

Feel free to play around with the spices to fit your own tastes. I like a lot of cinnamon in mine, as it's my favorite spice. If you're not such a big fan, you might want to trim the amount down a little.

When preparing the drink, I prefer to make the drink with 1% milk as it's creamier than making it with water, without being too rich like with whole milk. You can also use soy milk if you prefer!

Vanilla Chai Tea Mix

1 cup dry milk solids, nonfat

1 cup unflavored non-dairy creamer, powdered (do not use sugar-free!)

1 cup vanilla non-dairy creamer, powdered* (do not use sugar-free!)

2 cups sugar

1 ½ cups instant tea powder, unsweetened (like Nestea)

3 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp allspice

¼ tsp white pepper**

Combine all ingredients, mix well, and store in an air-tight container.

To prepare, mix a scoop (roughly 3 tbsp of powder, I use the plastic scoops that come in the powdered sweet tea containers) to 8oz of very hot, but not boiling, water or milk.

*Can be substituted for another cup of unflavored non dairy creamer to make a Spiced Chai instead of a Vanilla Chai. 

** Do not substitute black pepper for the white. If you can't find it, simply add a little more of another spice to help compensate. 

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