My masala tea has been coming out very week. I use 1 cup of nearly
boiling water, 2 cracked cardamom pods, 2-4 whole cloves, and 2-3
peppercorns, and 3+ tsp of Darjeeling tea leaves, which is more than the
recipe calls for. I would use more of the aromatics, but they are very
expensive (more than $2/ounce for the tea and the cardamom). I steep these
in a tea pot for about 8 minutes, by which time the water is usually fairly
cool? I'm going to search for a cheaper source of ingredients, but in the
meantime, how can I make my tea stronger? Can I boil some of the
ingredients?

Thanks,
Adam

"Adam Schwartz" > wrote in message
news:asn1c.468548$na.1111295@attbi_s04...
> My masala tea has been coming out very week. I use 1 cup of nearly
> boiling water, 2 cracked cardamom pods, 2-4 whole cloves, and 2-3
> peppercorns, and 3+ tsp of Darjeeling tea leaves, which is more than the
> recipe calls for. I would use more of the aromatics, but they are very
> expensive (more than $2/ounce for the tea and the cardamom). I steep
these
> in a tea pot for about 8 minutes, by which time the water is usually
fairly
> cool? I'm going to search for a cheaper source of ingredients, but in the
> meantime, how can I make my tea stronger? Can I boil some of the
> ingredients?
>
> Thanks,
> Adam

You never want to boil anything to do with tea, the tea leaves in
particular. Boiling releases tannins, resulting in a bitter brew. Instead,
try steeping longer. It doesn't matter if it's cool, but you can try a
different pot if it's cooling that fast. If you use a Yixeng style pot, the
pot will retain some of the aromatics and take on the character of the tea,
resulting in a more satisfying brew over time.

kimberly

>From: (Naomi Darvell)

>IIRC, most recipes for this kind of chai call for boiling all the ingredients
>except the tea. When I made it, I let them boil for as much as half an hour.
>I
>would make quite a large batch of that, rather concentrated, and reheat a cup
>at a time with some more water, with or without steeping a bag of black tea
>in
>it. (Definitely, don't boil the black tea, no matter what some recipes say.)
>
>
>I didn't see your previous post. Have you tried this with ginger? You might
>find it an improvement and it will also taste stronger.

Excellent advice. When we make chai we bring the aromatics to a boil and simmer
for an hour or so until the mixture is highly concentrated. Depending on how
much you make, this can last in the fridge for a week if well covered. The
concentrate is added to taste to steeped tea. It's great with any tea one
desires - whether it be green, black or herbal, such as Rooibos. We also like
the mixture added to warmed organic apple juice and even red wine with some
citrus peel added for extra flavor.

Ellen

Adam Schwartz wrote:
Can I boil some of the
> ingredients?

Indian ex-Hub and his whole extended family did this: Crack a cardi
pod/person, add (in a pot on stove) to half cup water per person. Bring
to a boil, add healthy "pinch" (between thumb and three fingers) bulk
Indian tea (they seemed to like the bulk boxes of Green Label or Red
Label...I found the Yellow label just fine, too...all these are at
Indian markets). and bring to a rolling boil. Add whole milk, about 1/4
per person, and plenty of sugar, bring to a rolling boil to change the
nature of the milk and strain and serve immediately.
HTH
blacksalt

"kalanamak" > wrote in message
...
> Indian ex-Hub and his whole extended family did this: Crack a cardi
> pod/person, add (in a pot on stove) to half cup water per person. Bring
> to a boil, add healthy "pinch" (between thumb and three fingers) bulk
> Indian tea (they seemed to like the bulk boxes of Green Label or Red
> Label...I found the Yellow label just fine, too...all these are at
> Indian markets). and bring to a rolling boil. Add whole milk, about 1/4
> per person, and plenty of sugar, bring to a rolling boil to change the
> nature of the milk and strain and serve immediately.
> HTH
> blacksalt

This sounds right, according to what my Indian friends (first generation)
do. They taught me to whack the cardomom pods a few times in a mortar and
pestle - you should be able to smell the aroma strongly - then throw into
water, boil, add a LOT of embarassingly cheap black tea (about 3 tbsp for 2
cups), throw in lots of sugar (masala tea is wonderfully rich and sweet) and
add evaporated milk to make it really creamy (you can substitute whole milk
I guess). Boil it up then turn off the fire and let it steep for a while.
Strain the mixture through a fine seive into your cup.

It's not a gourmet drink, and it shouldn't cost a lot. I'm shocked that the
first poster's cardomon pods cost so much - they are really cheap here in SE
Asia. Try Indian or Asian food stores? And you needn't use Darjeeling tea or
anything fancy, like I said before.

Something to be thankful about, I guess - I can't afford to buy an imported
vanilla bean here :-(.