Elaichi Chai Recipe, Iced Cardamom Chai and Cardamom Tea Without Milk

Elaichi chai (serves 1)

Ingredients

• ¾ cup (about 180 ml) water
• ½ cup (about 120 ml) full-cream milk
• 1 tsp CTC black tea, such as an Assam CTC
• 2 green cardamom pods
• Sugar, to taste

Method

1. Lightly crush the cardamom pods with a mortar and pestle, or under the flat of a knife, until the husks split.
2. Put the water on to boil with the crushed pods. Just as it starts to bubble, add the tea and let it boil for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the milk and let the chai simmer for 2 to 5 minutes.
4. Add sugar to taste and simmer for about 2 minutes more. Let the chai come up to a boil, and once more after that, until it looks toffee-colored.
5. Turn off the heat, strain into a cup or glass, and drink hot.

Adapted from our How to make Indian masala tea recipe on the Teabox blog, using cardamom alone. That recipe gives 8 minutes in all for 1 tsp of CTC tea, ¾ cup of water and ½ cup of full-cream milk, with 2 cardamom pods, ¼ inch of ginger and ½ inch of cinnamon in its masala; here only the cardamom stays.

Adjusting the strength

If you prefer a milder cup, Tea 101’s rule of thumb is about 2 parts water to 1 part milk; for a richer one, use more milk. Simmer until the chai takes on “a light milk chocolate color.” The recipe above sits in between, at about 3 parts water to 2 parts milk.

Do not overdo the pot. When we first wrote up our cardamom chai in 2016, our advice was to “steep the tea once and simmer it for five minutes,” because “a perfectly fine cup of tea can be ruined” by steeping too many times or simmering too long. Past that point the tea turns harsh and the cardamom’s fresh top note boils away.

Our Wayanad Cardamom Chai already carries crushed cardamom, so skip the pods and use the blend in place of the tea. For every step of the classic method, and for masala versions, see How to make masala chai at home.

Our brewing card

If you would rather steep the blend like a tea and add milk afterward, our 2022 steeping card for the blend gives these figures:

• Leaf: 1 teaspoon, about 2.5 g, for a 150 ml cup.
• Water: 90–95°C, just under a full boil, and a steep of 5 minutes.
• Additions: milk and sugar suit it, and so does honey; the card advises against lemon.

At 2.5 g a cup, 100 g of the blend makes about 40 cups, and 300 g about 120. One customer’s tip from the product page is worth passing on: “you need a generous amount for strong well balanced chai.” If your cup tastes thin, add a little more leaf before you add more time.

Our summer iced chai, first published on our blog in 2015, serves 2 and uses 3 to 4 decorticated cardamom (the seeds of 3 to 4 pods) with cinnamon, ginger and fennel. For an iced elaichi chai, keep the cardamom and leave the other spices out.

Iced chai (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 2 tsp Assam loose-leaf black tea
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup toned milk
• 3 to 4 decorticated cardamom
• For the masala version, also ½-inch cinnamon stick, ½-inch piece of fresh ginger (grated or crushed) and ¼ tsp fennel seeds
• Sugar, as you like it, or honey

Method

1. Bring the water to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan.
2. Add the tea leaves and the spices, and let the brew simmer for about 4 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat, let the tea cool, then stir in sugar or honey to taste.
4. Pour it into a pitcher or flask and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
5. To serve, fill a glass with ice, pour in the chilled tea and top it with about 4 tbsp of milk.

The milk goes in cold and last. If you would rather skip the milk, the same story suggests lemon juice and mint, or the chilled tea as it is. Full story: our iced chai recipe.

Without milk, cardamom’s floral side comes through more clearly, and the tea should be lighter, so use less leaf and a shorter steep than for chai.

Sulaimani: Kerala’s cardamom black tea with lime

On the Malabar coast of Kerala, a glass of sulaimani follows every feast. One of our writers grew up with it at family Eid lunches among the Mappilas, the Malabari Muslims, where it was served “in tiny glasses, usually with cardamom, occasionally with a few strands of saffron, but always with lime,” after the biryani. Making it, she wrote, “involves steeping black tea leaves, sweetening it, and brewing it until it reaches the right shade of golden.” At weddings, vats of black tea simmer all day. Tea 101 lists its other names as ghava and kattan chaya; in Malayalam, tea is chaya.

Ingredients

• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp black tea leaves
• 1-inch piece of cinnamon
• 2 cardamom pods
• A pinch of saffron
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 3 tsp sugar, or to taste

Method

1. Crush the cardamom and cinnamon with a mortar and pestle.
2. Bring the water to a boil, adding the crushed spices as the water heats up.
3. When the water has come to a boil, pour it over the tea leaves and let them steep for a minute.
4. Add the lime juice, sugar and saffron, and stir to dissolve.
5. Serve immediately.

One teaspoon of leaf for three cups and a one-minute steep is far lighter than chai, and that is the point: the lime would turn a strong, long-brewed tea sharp, while a light one stays golden and clear.

We shared the same recipe for Eid in 2016, as a spiced tea from the Middle East: “the perfect day to try this ambrosial drink.”

Sulaimani is one of several lime and lemon teas around the world; more in How to make lemon tea.

Other ways to drink cardamom tea plain

• Cardamom black tea. Add one lightly crushed pod to the pot with your usual black tea and brew as normal. For an Assam, that means water just off the boil (95–100°C) for 4 to 5 minutes.
• Kashmiri kahwa. A green tea brewed with saffron, cardamom, almonds, cinnamon and cloves, traditionally served without milk. See our guide to Kashmiri kahwa.
• Cardamom without tea. Crushed pods simmered in plain water make a spice infusion, or tisane, with no tea leaf in it. Like other herbal teas, it is naturally caffeine-free.

Keep the cardamom away from your most delicate teas. Our blender’s advice is that with a first flush Darjeeling you should “avoid strong, intensely aromatic flavors like cardamom or ginger,” which would hide the tea. A malty Assam or a brisk CTC carries it best.