Recently on a camping trip, by the time we had set up our camp, collected wood for the fire and started to cook our simple campfire food, we were feeling a little bit parched. A friend who joined us that day brought along her own chai mix tea and a little bit of magic was injected into that campsite experience that got us all smiling and swapping travel stories as we worked.
Chai is an Indian drink usually served hot and sweet in shot glasses. If you’ve been fortunate enough to visit India, you probably remember images of the sweet, milky drink being mixed from a great height.
Transfer that drink to your own campsite and it will bring with it a bit of luxury, spice magic and adventure to your trip.
There’s no end to the diversity of chai recipes. It is all a matter of taste and, as we know, everyone’s different. The basis of a good chai is black tea (usually darjeeling), brewed with selected spices, sugar or honey and milk. Each ingredient adds a subtle flavour and all brewing methods vary greatly, which results in a huge array of flavours to choose from. So here is our favourite selection for you to try the next time you go glamping or camping.
Tip: Make sure you mix the spices before you leave to make a chai campsite experience even easier.
Simple Chai
- 7 cups of water
- 2 chai tea bags
- 4 Darjeeling tea bags
- A pinch of ground ginger
- Honey
- 1 cup of milk
Bring the water to the boil with the chai tea bags and ginger. When boiling add the Darjeeling tea bags and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cup of milk and serve.
Authentic Chai
- 7 cups of water
- 4 cardamom pods
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 1 star anise
- 5 Darjeeling tea bags
- 2 cups of buffalo milk (or full fat cows milk)
- Quarter of a cup of sugar
Traditionally chai is served thick, with buffalo milk, loads of sugar, black tea and cardamom pods. First crack the cardamom pods and add it to the water with the cinnamon and star anise. Bring the water to the boil and add the Darjeeling tea. Continue to boil for 5 minutes to reduce the black tea mixture. Then strain and add sugar. To make it extra special serve it from a small glass or china cup.
Luxury Chai
- 7 cups of water
- 4 slices of fresh ginger
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 8 peppercorns
- 4 cloves
- 6 cardamom pods
- 1 vanilla bean cut up
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 tsp honey
- 4 Darjeeling teabags
- 2 cups of milk
Bring the water to boil and add the tea bags. Continue to boil for 2 minutes then add the rest of the spices, sugar and honey ingredients. Finally add the milk, take off the heat, strain and serve hot.
Chai Milkshake
If the kids are feeling left out, or it’s too hot to drink tea, take the cold leftover of your chai tea brew and mix it with your favourite ice cream. You can use either a hand whisk or a cocktail shaker to do this easily at the campsite. Serve from a tall glass, then sit back and enjoy.
