My experiments with different spices for flavoring my evening tea continues and this time it is Cinnamon/Dalchini which gets featured as the special spice.
I always prefer to use fresh and whole spices for making my Masala tea rather than the pre packed store bought ones . I feel we can control the level of flavor we want to be infused into the tea when we use fresh spices . We can add or subtract the quantity of ingredients depending on our personal liking .
Initially I was a little hesitant as to how cinnamon would taste in our Indian chai , but I went ahead and tried brewing my tea with cinnamon and cardamom and surprisingly people at home loved the taste and asked me to make tea this way going forward .
The mild sweetness from the cinnamon added a nice woody flavor to the tea . The trick to get the perfect taste is to not over boil the cinnamon stick in water.Excess boiling will release strong flavor of the cinnamon which may not be liked by all . As cinnamon is a bark of a tree it has a naturally sweet woody flavor. A small stick about 1/2 inch of high quality cinnamon is enough to brew tea for 3 people.
Preparation Time - 2 mins
Cooking Time - 15 mins
Complexity - simple
Makes - 3 cups of tea
Ingredients
2 cups warm milk
3 tsp good quality tea leaves
1/2 inch stick cinnamon/dalchini/pattai
1/2 tsp cardamom/elaichi powder
Sugar as per taste
- Add the water to a sauce pan and let it begin to warm up.
- As you see bubbles , add in the cinnamon stick and elaichi/cardamom powder along with sugar.
- Once, you get a wafting aroma of cinnamon, add in the tea leaves and let the tea brew. It should take about 4 to 5 min for the tea to get infused with all the flavors from the spices.
- Add the warm milk and let it come to a rolling boil.
- Strain and serve hot with your favorite snack or biscuits.
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| Adrak Elaichi Chai / Elaikkai Inji Tea |
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| Saffron Cardamom Tea / Kesar Elaichi tea |
Nice and flavourful tea. Would love to have it in winters.
ReplyDeletePriya, whenever I make cold or hot chai latte, I add cinnamon and it tastes so good. Cinnamon adds so much warmth to the tea.
ReplyDeleteOf late, my son is having cinnamon tea. I think I will make it for us also now, was a bit hesitant to try Priya.
ReplyDeleteCinnamon tea is what my father loves. I tried it with him and loved it.
ReplyDeleteWe began this sunday with your recipe for Dalchini chai. SO good , and a fantastic start to day off!
ReplyDeleteWell I love most of the flavored tea. Your detail of Cinnamon Tea looks pretty good.
ReplyDelete