TeaChat

What kind of black tea would be best for making Masala Chai?

Just curious?

Masala is Indian so would Darjeeling be best?

How about Keemun or Yunnan?

Anyone?

I use Lipton black tea bags. Saves you some clean-up when you pour the chai through the strainer

Currently in India and we use loose black tea here (you should be able to pick bags of it up at your local Indian grocery store). The brand we're currently using is Society Tea (Assam CTC), and my cook uses fresh ginger and cardamom pods. He keeps lifting and pouring the tea during the process and it keeps the tea aerated. It is boiled with milk and sugar and then strained into the cups. We use full-fat milk, often raw milk that is delivered to our doors here.

A lot of people make the mistake of using a very high grade quality Black tea for Chai thinking it would somehow taste better. However, it is not so. As the previous commenter says, Assam CTC is your best choice for Chai and yes it can be found on most Indian grocery stores. It brews a rich & tasteful cup that goes really well with milk. Our Original Masala Chai has won 1st place for Chai 3 years in a row at the North American Tea Championship...and we use organic Assam CTC

Yogic Chai wrote:A lot of people make the mistake of using a very high grade quality Black tea for Chai thinking it would somehow taste better. However, it is not so. As the previous commenter says, Assam CTC is your best choice for Chai and yes it can be found on most Indian grocery stores. It brews a rich & tasteful cup that goes really well with milk. Our Original Masala Chai has won 1st place for Chai 3 years in a row at the North American Tea Championship...and we use organic Assam CTC

Ah yes,
I should have guessed Assam in the first place. Thank you very much.
I will definitely try it in the near future.

As long as you leave pepper out of it I'll be happy to drink.

jayinhk wrote:Currently in India and we use loose black tea here (you should be able to pick bags of it up at your local Indian grocery store). The brand we're currently using is Society Tea (Assam CTC), and my cook uses fresh ginger and cardamom pods. He keeps lifting and pouring the tea during the process and it keeps the tea aerated. It is boiled with milk and sugar and then strained into the cups. We use full-fat milk, often raw milk that is delivered to our doors here.

Where are you currently living in India? In Kerala, they use Kerala tea for making masala chai and I've found the spices can vary from region to region. Masala chai can be so delicious, but all that sugar makes me stay away from it most of the time.

I was in Mumbai when I posted, but I'm back in Hong Kong now, although I may be in Mumbai again in a few weeks.

I'm not surprised they use Kerala tea and different spices in Kerala. There are no hard and fixed rules in India for anything. You can just leave the sugar out if you're making it at home of course. Whatever you do, just remember to remove the dirty bubbles.

jayinhk wrote:I was in Mumbai when I posted, but I'm back in Hong Kong now, although I may be in Mumbai again in a few weeks.

I'm not surprised they use Kerala tea and different spices in Kerala. There are no hard and fixed rules in India for anything. You can just leave the sugar out if you're making it at home of course. Whatever you do, just remember to remove the dirty bubbles.

+1. Plenty of those in India.

Tead Off wrote: +1. Plenty of those in India.

Absolutely, but you have to love it! My neighborhood was all torn up when I was there because they were redoing the roads and there were pools of extremely odorous stagnant water everywhere. Great for spitting betelnut juice into. When in Rome...