~ Kommentary by Kritter ~

Cheap Chai for Cold Nights

I've been making a yummy concotion lately. Thought I'd share it for other hot chai fiends like myself. You can, of course, go buy the liquid chai mix that many coffeeshops use at Whole Foods and even some regular grocery stores. But the box costs almost $5 and doesn't last long.

Fill your mug about 1/3 with milk (best if whole milk) and the rest water.
Put a cinnamon stick on the bottom. (Stick can be reused.)
Add sugar. (If you actually want it to taste like it does in the coffeehouses, be generous.)
Put in chai tea bag (recommend Celestial Seasons- the taste is WAY better than others I have tried). I generally leave the bag in even while drinking- to make sure you get a good, full chai taste.
Heat it for like 2 min. You want it to boil so that the milk has that same coffeehouse steamed thing going on. It's important to have the cinnamon stick in there while heating as well. Shaking cinnamon on the top doesn't work because it doesn't mix.
Another thing to add is just a tablespoon or less of hot cocoa mix or Nestle Quik. You don't want an overwhelming chocolate taste or you might as well just make cocoa.

Anyway. Probably a dumb thing to share, but I love that I can make these at home whenever I want them. And most chai is decaf so it doesn't hurt to drink them late at night.