Spiced Chai Tea Latte Recipe and Cabin Fever

So being snowed in with an attention deficit, hyperactive, non-stop complaining spouse is not what I consider a great way to pass by 4 days off of work.  I am literally kicking him out as we speak because he is driving me up the wall.

In the meantime I have been cooking...I mean a lot of cooking.  I miss my dad's home cooked meals, as I previously posted I did pop stickers, artisan bread now add coleslaw, chai, and bing (Chinese pancake) to the mix.

So I thought I would show how I make my Spiced Chai Tea Latte since I've been working on it the past 2 weeks.

First of all I did go organic with my ingredients but you don't have to, everything I found at Whole Foods but you can get the spices at a grocery store.

Starting at the top: 8 whole cloves, 2 star anise (I didn't have whole ones so I used the seeds, 5 peppercorns, 8 allspice, 12 cardamon pods, 3 Cinnamon sticks, one chopped and peeled ginger, and black tea (you can use 3 tea bags but I only have loose at home).  Also add 3 Tablespoon of brown sugar.  You can also add nutmeg and vanilla bean but if you are using vanilla soy milk or vanilla coconut milk I would hold back on the vanilla and sugar..  Pretty much I like to think of pumpkin pie when I throw this together.

Place all but the tea into 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. 

(Nice action shot)

Once the mix comes to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes place in the tea and let it steep for 5 minutes.

I love Teavana's teas but you can use whatever black tea you like to drink.

Once steeping is complete, strain the ingredients into a container.

Makes the house smell soooooo good.  Let the concentrate cool down.  In the morning this is such a quick drink before I hit the road,  I add a little under 1:1  ratio of concentrate to milk/milk substitute.   I recently went to Starbucks to compare and I think this is pretty dead on.  Still hasn't cured me of my Starbucks addiction but it's nice to be able to have it at home.

Nom Nom Nom

I don't know if it's all the Spiced Chai Tea Latte's or what, but I just had to get out of the house and walk around.

Only in Indiana will it go from -45 F with windchill then have predicted highs in the 41 on Thursday.  The weather here is crazy, makes me feel like this right now...

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!