Recipe: Handcrafted Chai Spice Mix And Confessions Of A DAVIDsTEA Fanatic

In most parts of the world, the word ‘chai’ actually means tea. In North America, the word chai is most often associated with masala chai (mixed-spiced tea), or a drink made with black tea, mixed spices and milk. BTW, I read somewhere that masala chai spices are antibacterial, they can help ward off illnesses. Isn’t that great news!

I love Chai Spices! Heck, I love everything Chai. One of my most favourite things is the Pumpkin Chai Tea blend from DAVIDsTEA. I confess, it’s more than just their Chai blends that get me at DAVIDs. It’s almost every blend they carry!

If you’re wondering…no, they are not paying my to gush so lovingly about their product but I tell you, if DAVIDs ever decides to hire an Ambassador or to run an Affiliate Program for bloggers, I will be first in line. As long as the pay me in DAVIDs Tea that is

I might have a bit of a problem…if you can call drinking tea a problem. Let’s see, at last count, I had about 25 blends of their tea on hand. There’s the summer blends that I like to drink chilled. The fall blends that include Pumpkin Chai and one of my new favorites, Banana Nut Bread. Some of my all-time favourite blends are…anything with masala chai spices, Earl’s Garden, Pu’erh Ginger, Tie Kwan Yin and I wish my iPad had scratch and sniff cause I’m thinking I might just love this Vanilla Orchid Tea and this Organic Creme Brulee!

A few of my recipes call for some DAVIDs Tea blends. Let’s see, I posted a Strawberry Tea Smoothie recipe in the summer of 2011 and a Chai Tea Frappe recipe this past summer (2012). Last autumn, I posted a recipe for Pumpkin Chai Doughnuts that my friend Alea of Premeditated Leftovers turned me on to.

DAVIDs Teas and Chai Spices! There you go, now you know the two things I can’t seem to get enough of.

The Teas will set one back a few $$ but crafting your own Chai Spice Mix is downright frugal. Commercially produced spice blends you get at the supermarket or online is expensive and may contain gluten as well as other undesirable additives.

Amazon.com has a 2 ounce, Organic Chai Masala Spice Blend that sells for $11.22. I’m not going to include the link here because the blend is NOT gluten free, it has wheat listed in the ingredients! By making your own, you have complete control over the ingredients!

Don’t you think this Handcrafted Chai Spice Mix would make a nice gift? All you have to do is tie a pretty bow around a nice spice jar and add a label and/or a gift tag . In case you’re wondering, the jar on the right is some Homemade Vanilla that I am working on for the Christmas Holidays.

Recipe: Handcrafted Chai Spice Mix

View Print Friendly Recipe Here

Summary: What could be better than a Chai Spice Mix that you craft yourself? Recipe makes a total of about 1/3 Cup, almost 3 oz, or about 15 tsp of spice mix.

Gluten Free | Grain Free | Sugar Free | Dairy Free | Egg Free | Vegan | Vegetarian

Ingredients

• 4 tsp ground cardamom
• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground all spice
• 2 tsp ground ginger ***omit if you plan to use fresh ginger in your recipes

Instructions

1. Blend all ingredients together in a small bowl or use a mortar and pestle.
2. Store the mixture in a sealed spice jar. Use in recipes that call for a ‘masala chai’ blend.
3. Makes a lovely handcrafted gift for the Foodie in your life.

Quick notes

Keep in mind that using fresh spices can make a big difference! Freshly ground spices have the most flavour and spices that contain oils can actually go rancid over time. For the utmost in freshness, you can try grinding your own spices in a coffee or spice grinder. Now that would be the epitome of a Handcrafted Spice Mixture!

Variations

If you only need a small amount of Chai Spice Mix, the following makes about 2 teaspoons.

• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground all spice 1/4 tsp ground ginger ***omit if you prefer to use fresh ginger

Quick notes

• Interested in using this spice mix to make your own chai tea? A traditional unflavoured tea should do the trick. @DAVIDsTEA says their “Kenyan Tinderet
  works great for a DIY chai base! It’s a similar style of tea to what you’d find in our Pure Chai”

Recipe by Laureen.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)

Diet type: Vegan | Vegetarian

Diet tags: Gluten Free | Grain Free | Sugar Free | Dairy Free | Egg Free

Number of servings (yield): 8

To see a text listing of Laureen’s gluten free recipes, click here

For dairy, egg, nut and gluten free flour substitutions, click here

 

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