This Luscious Pepper Masala Chai recipe will warm your heart and might conjure up 5 clawed dragons arching the sky

Superbly warming, decidedly grounding this Pepper Chai is luscious.  Follow my detailed instruction and you will soon be enjoying a decadent, mythical treat that is truly intoxicating. To top it of this treat is healthy beyond my ability to measure and completely caffeine free.

Enjoy the preparation as the aromas of deeply steeping spices, roots and herbs waft through your domicile!

Before we begin preparing our sip-able heaven, a little Chai breakdown and an ode to the master.

Chai, translates to tea. Masala, translates to spice blend. A masala chai is a spiced tea. In many cultures this spiced tea is served with hot milk. In the United States we often simply shorten this to simply "chai" or modify it to "Chai latte" and serve it with frothy steamed milks.

While the blend of spices used in masala chai can vary widely, the tea that is used is almost always black tea. Usually it is strong black tea grown in India such as Assam black tea.

I have strong interest in drinking my masala chai late into the evenings and am easily aroused by caffeine. If I imbibe caffeine at night, I simply won't sleep well. I have substituted roasted chicory and rooibus (red bush) and the resulting drink has zero caffeine.

I have a chai master. Truly I have always loved to drink chai. I have enjoyed it for many years. When I drank the masala chai brewed by a contemporary of mine the Dr. ( @lovejoy ) I flew. I literally became a wild dragon, flapping my powerful wings and soaring through the sky. Not just a dragon, a five clawed heck of a thing. I felt like an emperor.

His masala chai is famous in Minneapolis, one variation won the best non-alcoholic beverage of the year in the top foody magazine in foody city. Sadly now the original recipe has actually been lost.

I am not recreating it here. For one thing that would require tigers breath, spiders web, loads of black tea and plenty of caffeine to boot. I am just saying that I wouldn't have such an interest in assembling a bubbling cauldron of chai if it hadn't been for his masterful brew.

May my Luscious Pepper Masla Chai recipe will warm your heart and conjure dreams of 5 clawed dragons arching the winter sky. 

The recipe in great detail; with plenty of images - luckily the camera on my old Moto G4 still sorta works.

You will be using.

 1 gallon + 1 cup (136 ounces)* High Quality H20

1/4-1/2 TEAspoon* Tastly Sea Salt (or similar) 

3-4* cinnamon sticks

5-6* Star Anise 

Heaping TABLEspoon* whole dried cloves

2.5-3 TABLEspoons* Dried black peppercorns

2 Heaping TABLEspoons* Whole dried cardamon pods

1 TABLEspoon* Dried Burdock Root(NOT roasted)

1 TABLEspoon* Roasted Dandelion Root.

2 TABLEspoons* Rooibus(Red Bush African "Tea")

2-3 TABLEspoons* Roasted Chicory medium ground

1 Hand* of fresh Ginger Root

2 fat fingers* of fresh Turmeric Root

Sweetener of choice - I use pure can sugar

Milk of choice - I am using Almond milk today

3 64ounce Mason canning style jars/ or similar vessels

Preparation;

1. Find suitable work-space. This my very richly, humble kitchen space. 

2. Pour 1 gallon of water into a proper sized cauldron. Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of Sea Salt. If possible use fresh spring water or other high quality water - it will affect the taste.

3. The dried Spices. (If you live where Organic spices dwell please buy them and please consider supporting more sustainable growing/consuming practices when/where possible.)

4.  3-4 whole Cinnamon sticks. Best tasting bark in world.

5. 5-6 Star Anise. 

6. A heaping overflowing TABLEspoon of dried clove. 

7.  1 TABLEspoon of EACH of the burdock root and the roasted dandelion root. 

8. 2-3 TABLEspoons of dried black pepper corns. I really enjoy the peppery taste of this chai with the full 3 tablespoon though feel free to ease into the foray. You will have to crack the corns. Use a hand-grinder or blend in an electric coffee grinder.

9. 2 heaping TABLEspoons of cardomon pods. You will either cut each one in half with a sharp knife, or blend them in the electric coffee grinder. I just mix the black pepper corns and cardomon up and blend for 10-20 seconds. Do not over grind, see the images below. Crush things up, do not make a powder.

10.  Fresh turmeric & fresh ginger, see these images to determine how much. Wash and scrub the roots well before slicing them up.

11. What we have so far.

12.  Add all of what we have so far into the pot. Bring to boil, turn the heat down low and cover. You must cover well or the liquid will disappear into the air. Steep under a very slow roll for 45minutes.

Under the lid is a slow, slow roll.

13.  After letting things step for 45 minutes from step 12, add 2 TABLEspoons Rooibus and 2-3 TABLEspoons roasted chicory. Also add 8 ounces of additional water. Now, let everything simmer for 30 minutes.

14.  Remove from heat. Strain the liquid. I use a 2 stage process. I strain into a large jar with a coarse strainer and then into the 3 64 ounce mason jars using a fine tea strainer to get out the last little bits.

15.  Sweeten. I divide the chai liquid equally in three 64ounce Mason glass jars. I add 4-5 table spoons of sugar per jar. This makes a chai that is sweet but not overly so. Some of you will want to add extra sweetener.  Substitute any sweetener of your choice of course. I do not recommend maple syrup as it has much of its own flavor. Honey is good option.  Stir the sweetener into the liquid well.

16. Milk of choice. I am using Almond* milk as I want to serve this to my girlfriend, she is allergic to dairy. As an option you can add milk later add just store the masala pepper chai base in the refrigerator at this point. *Use unsweetened alternative milks such as Almond, sweeten to taste yourself.

17.  A nice ratio is 2/3 chai 1/3 milk. You can see here the levels I have.

Now you can store the finished chai in the refrigerator.  Heat it up to just below boiling and serve. (it tastes excellent as a cold drink as well). If you have a home milk frother, use it and make chai lattes.

18. Let me know how it goes!

I will also make a short post in the next couple days where I turn the leftover chai spices into a useful chai paste using a vitamix blender. The paste is a great ingredient for future treat making. You may want to save the leftover chai spices you have right in the refrigerator.

Be well!!