Natural form
Loose chai blend: black tea leaves mixed with whole cinnamon, cardamom pods, cloves, and dried ginger.
Shows the raw ingredient composition so readers recognize the blend's distinct multi-spice character.
Beverages
Chai Tea
Spiced black tea blend for cozy, milky lattes
Black tea blended with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cloves, chai simmers with milk into a warming, fragrant latte. Sweeten to taste. Keep the blend airtight and dry.
Chai is spiced black tea — the Indian masala chai tradition of brewing strong black tea with milk, sugar, and a warming blend of spices: cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, black pepper, and star anise. The result is aromatic, sweet, creamy, and gently fiery, with the tannic backbone of black tea threaded through fragrant spice. In cooking, chai's spice profile is a ready-made flavor base: brewed strong it infuses custards, ice cream, rice puddings, and poaching syrups, while the spice blend itself flavors cakes, cookies, oatmeal, and lattes with cozy, autumnal warmth. It's essentially a spice cabinet in a cup.
- Measured in
- g
- Storage
- Airtight
Find it in
Types & varieties
Black tea simmered with milk and spices
Pre-brewed, sweetened — convenient base
Caffeine-free, same spice profile
How to use in cooking
Brew chai strong (often simmered in milk) and use it to infuse panna cotta, custard, ice cream, rice pudding, and poaching syrups with instant spiced warmth. The dry spice blend flavors cakes, cookies, banana bread, oatmeal, and whipped cream. A chai-spiced caramel or a chai latte concentrate makes a versatile dessert base. Because the spices are robust, chai stands up to milk, sugar, and longer cooking better than delicate teas.
How to choose
Loose-leaf masala chai with visible whole spices tastes fresher and more complex than dusty bags or oversweetened powdered mixes. For controllable flavor, brew plain strong black tea and add your own freshly ground chai spices. Concentrates are convenient for lattes and desserts but check the sugar level.
Common uses
Tips & pitfalls
- Simmer chai in milk to draw out the spices and tea together.
- Brew strong — the spices need to cut through a dish.
- The dry spice blend alone flavors cakes and cookies beautifully.
- Pairs naturally with apple, pear, pumpkin, and caramel.
Nutrition
Energy
222 kJ · per 100 g
Where the calories come from
Protein
2.5g
5% DV
Carbs
7.8g
3% DV
Fat
1.4g
2% DV
Fiber
0g
0% DV
Sugars
5.8g
of which
Sodium
41mg
2% DV
Source · USDA FoodData Central · approx. SILK Chai, soymilk
View on FDC →In the shops
Matched grocery products
€1.15Chai Tea
Hacendado · 0.04 100 g · Mercadona
€2.99Hornimans Chai Tea
HORNIMANS · ud · Bonpreu
Good to know
- Flavor
- Spiced, warming, sweet, creamy, tannic
- Use in cooking
- Custards, ice cream, syrups, cakes, lattes, oatmeal
- Alcohol?
- No
- Substitute base
- Black tea + chai spice blend (cardamom, cinnamon, ginger…)
- How to store
- Airtight, cool, dark; spice blends keep for months
Substitutes
- Black tea + chai spices — Build it from scratch — fully controllable
- Pumpkin-spice / mixed warm spices — Approximates the spice blend without tea
- Spiced herbal/rooibos chai — Caffeine-free version with the same spices
Also called
chai · chai tea · masala chai · té chai
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