Masala tea: Question 2



A

Adam Schwartz

Guest
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" <[email protected]> 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
 
x-no-archive: yes

Adam Schwartz wrote inter alia:

>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?

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.

Naomi D.
 
>From: [email protected] (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" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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 :-(.
 
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