DIY Oregon Chai Recipe

I love love love Oregon Chai. It's perfect EXCEPT it's just a tad too sweet - and a tad too expensive - for me. The last time I bought some, it was $3-plus change for their little box which made 4ish (depending upon how much milk I added) of my big coffee cups full. That's good when you consider it cost $3 for a single grande chai at Starbucks at that time.

I began a homemade Oregon Chai knockoff quest. Here's a pic of my partners in crime:

I reuse random containers, so we aren't really going to use McCormick Salad Toppings in our chai. There's bulk whole cloves in there. Here's the recipe.

1 gallon water
1/3 cup whole cloves
5 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp dried ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup loose black tea (or 10 teabags)
2 cups honey
2 tsp vanilla

I reuse a gallon milk jug to measure out the water into my big lidded pot and to hold my chai later. Put the cinnamon sticks, ginger, and nutmeg in there. Then I put the cloves in my awesome Williams Sonoma garnee ball. This garnee ball is so great, it was worth the Williams Sonoma price. I use it a LOT. When I first started making chai, I used some doubled-up cheesecloth tied closed with thread to hold my cloves. Then I got a cheapo garnee ball that kept opening up and dumping all those little cloves out into my chai. Grrrrr. It was back to cheesecloth until I found my little ball of perfectness. Ummmm . . . what was I . . . .oh yeah, back to the recipe.

Do all the above, put the lid on your pot, and simmer for 12 hours. Chaimaking is a good holiday activity. It makes your house smell just like Christmas. When it's good and simmered, turn off the heat, fish out the cinnamon sticks and your garnee ball. Dump the cloves into the compost pile and add the loose tea to your garnee ball or cheesecloth, or tie your 10 teabags together and add them to your liquid. Steep 10 minutes. Remove tea from liquid and add the honey and vanilla.

Vanilla's not in the picture because I make it with bottom-shelf vodka and vanilla beans. I thought including a vodka bottle AND McCormick Salad Toppings with these ingredients would be just too confusing.

The gallon of chai never lasts longer that a week or so in the fridge because I drink it up before then, so I'll say it lasts about a week in the fridge.

To make a cup, I get my tall coffee cup, fill it a little over 2/3 of the way with chai, add a bloop of milk and nuke it for one minute. Not only does it smell like Christmas, it's like drinking Christmas!