Masala Chai Recipe (Indian Masala Tea)
Updated: September 16, 2023, By Swasthi
Masala Chai also known as Masala Tea is India’s most popular drink and is loved by everyone. Imagine the flavors of brewing – sweet, spicy, hot and aromatic spices with sugar, milk and tea… Amazing Right? This Indian Masala Chai is just that – amazingly flavorsome, delicious and totally relaxing.
A hot cup of Chai/ Tea is an amazing way to soothe your senses and refresh your mind. In this post I share the method to make a perfect cup of Indian Chai at home!! (from scratch).
A lot of Indians love to sip their Masala Chai all-round the year along with their breakfast and evening snack. Some limit it to monsoons & cold winters because it keeps the body warm and helps break up the blocked sinus. Many different kinds of tea are made across the world and each one has its own properties so they have different health benefits.
About Masala Chai (Tea)
Masala Chai is an Indian beverage made by brewing black tea with fragrant spices, sugar and milk. In Hindi the word “Masala” means “spices” and “Chai” means “Tea”. So Masala Chai also known as CHAI TEA by the non-natives, is Indian milk tea brewed with aromatic spices.
There are also versions where aromatic herbs like mint (pudina) and Tulsi (holy basil) are added to it. Chai is usually served with biscuits, rusk, Onion Pakora, Samosa and Sandwiches.
Table of contents
Every Indian family may have their own recipe to make Masala Tea. The combination of spices, the quantity of milk, water and the kind of tea to use – is a personal choice & this is what decides the strength, flavor and taste of your Masala Chai.
In this post I share the way I make at home & it closely matches the flavors of masala chai available in good Standard Indian restaurants. It can be made in so many flavors all to suit your liking. So you can also easily customize this recipe to your taste.
There are 2 basic ways a Masala Chai is made. I have shared both the ways here in this post. The first method is to make it instantly with just 3 to 4 basic spices. They are crushed and then simmered with tea & water. Later you just add milk and simmer further. We don’t need any other tea masala for this.
The second one is great if you wish to enjoy Masala Chai regularly or often. To make this, whole spices are ground in a spice grinder and stored. Making your cup of Masala Chai is super easy with this, add it to your everyday milk tea and simmer for some time so flavors of masala are infused.
Masala Chai Vs Chai Latte
Is Masala Chai same as Chai Latte? A lot of people think both are same! But actually Masala Chai (Tea) and Chai Latte are not the same.
Masala Chai has a tea decoction and milk simmered together so the milk is fully infused with the flavors of chai and spices. But Chai Latte is made by simply pouring the chai/tea decoction to a serving cup and then topped with frothy milk.
Both taste & smell very different even though they are made from the same chai decoction. Masala Chai has a stronger karak/kadak flavor due the simmering of milk with decoction, while Chai Latte tastes lighter with a milky aroma because it is simply milk flavored with chai decoction.
Lastly the ratio of milk in both these is different.
More Indian beverages
Adrak Chai (Ginger Milk Tea)
Irani Chai
Turmeric Tea
Ginger Tea
Turmeric Milk
Lassi Recipe
Mango Lassi
How to choose your Black Tea
Traditionally masala chai is made with loose tea leaves but now most people use processed black tea which is in granular or powder form. There are basically 2 different kinds of processed tea in the market – CTC and Tea dust.
CTC tea is produced by processing tea leaves through cylindrical rollers to Crush, Tear and Curl them, the resulting processed tea is in a granular or pellet form. This CTC tea imparts bolder and robost flavors to your masala chai along with a deep brown color.
Tea dust is another kind of processed tea which is finer and is almost in powder form. Apart from these you can also make masala tea with black tea bags which contains the same tea dust.
In India tea is grown largely in 3 regions and each is named after the region – Assam tea, Darjeeling tea and Nilgiri tea. Each of these have a different flavour, strength and taste due to the soil profile, weather and region.
In South India, Nilgiri tea is more commonly used and everywhere else it is the Assam tea that is more popular. Again it is a personal choice and you need to try out a few until you find something that you really love.
Types of Tea
Assam tea is loved for its deep color and strong flavour. If you love strong tea known as kadak chai, this may be the one for you. Darjeeling tea is well known for fruity flavour. Nilgiri tea has a fruity flavour of the Darjeeling tea and strong bold flavors like Assam tea.
Nilgiri tea won’t leave any astringent taste even if it is brewed for longer as they contain very little tannins. So it is suitable to those who like to make strong chai by simmering the tea with spices and milk for longer.
In a lot of places in South India, you will find tea being simmered for too long to get that full-bodied strong tea. It tastes really so good with just a little amount of milk in it. So if you prefer simmering your tea for longer then go with Nilgiri.
If you don’t live in India, then use any strong black tea you like.
Other Ingredients
Spices – The basic and most common spices used in masala tea are green cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon. The other optional spices are black pepper, ginger, fennel seeds, nutmeg and star anise. Each spice has its own health benefits. To know more scroll down to read my pro tips section.
Milk – The quantity of milk to add depends on your personal taste and the kind of milk used. Too much milk in your tea can completely alter the taste of your tea and can cause acidity.
Masala chai with too little milk will also not taste good and will be watery. An ideal ratio of water to milk can range from 1:1 to 3:1 depending on the kind of milk – homogenized, non-homogenized, toned and raw milk . In India a lot of people use raw water buffalo milk which is thicker than the regular cow milk so 3:1 is the common ratio.
I have provided more details in the notes section of the recipe card.
Sweetener – Traditionally unrefined sweetener known as jaggery is used. It is a personal choice and we love ours with cane sugar. You can also have it with any other sweetener of your choice. If using jaggery, coconut sugar or palm jaggery add them once you turn off the heat.
Photo Guide
How to make Masala Chai (Stepwise photos)
Method 1 – Make Black Tea
Crush the Spices
1. To make instant masala chai, add the following whole spices (masala) to a small mortar pestle or spice grinder.
- 2 to 3 cloves (2 for milder flavor)
- ½ to ¾ cinnamon (Cassia or Ceylon)
- 4 green cardamoms
- 2 pepper corn (optional, or a pinch of ground pepper)
2. Crush them fine (or slightly coarse is okay) to bring out the flavors.
Make Masala Tea
3. Heat 1½ cups water in a sauce pot. Add
- Masala chai powder we just made above
- ½ teaspoon ginger (optional, ½ inch peeled & chopped or grated)
- 2½ to 3 teaspoons CTC loose leaf black Tea or 1¼ to 1½ teaspoon powder (dust), depending on the brand. You can use more or less depending on the kind of tea you are using. Or You can also use 3 to 4 tea bags. (Start with lower tea and if required add more after adding milk)
4. Bring this to a rolling boil on a medium high flame & turn down to medium or low. Let the decoction boil for 2 to 3 mins.
5. Add sugar at this stage. I use 3 to 4 teaspoons. You can use as little or as much as you prefer. Pour 1 cup full fat milk to the simmering black tea. Adjust the quantity of milk as needed. Adding milk before boiling the ginger well will more likely curdle the milk. So ensure you add the milk only after boiling the ginger well with black tea.
If using tea bags, remove them from the pot and keep aside. Boiling the tea bags too long will leave a bitter taste. If your tea isn’t strong enough, you may add more tea bags.
6. Bring the tea to a rolling boil and simmer on a medium heat until the tea turns dark, for 2 mins. Simmering helps the tea to thicken. I usually simmer until it reduces to 1¾ cups. Fresh holy basil (tulsi) or mint leaves can also be used for variations. You can taste test and add more milk if you prefer. But simmer again for a little longer so the tea doesn’t have the milk flavor.
Aerate Masala Chai (optional)
7. As the chai boils, you will see a layer of cream on top. Turn off the heat. Pulled masala chai tastes best as the milk fats are dispersed during the process & you get the same taste as from a chaiwallah. Using a soup ladle pull or aerate the tea a few times.
If you do not have a soup ladle, simply pour some of the hot tea to a measuring cup (that has a handle) and pour that back to the chai pot in a slow stream, from a height of about 1 to 1½ feet. This should break down the layer of milk cream and create some froth. Repeat this steps of pulling tea from the pot to the measuring cup a few times (4 to 5 times) until all of the cream is broken down and incorporated back into the masala chai.
8. Lastly Strain/ filter masala chai tea to serving cups.
Serve Masala Chai hot or warm with biscuits.
Method 2 – Make Chai Masala Powder
1. This is the second method. If you drink masala tea regularly, you can make the masala chai powder in little larger quantity and store it in a glass jar. For quantities refer the recipe card below.
2. This will give you about 3 tsps powder.
3. To make masala tea, fresh ginger, tea powder or tea leaves, and ground spices are simmered in water to infuse the flavors. You can use the same quantities of water and milk mentioned in the recipe card.
Serve masala chai hot or warm.
Faqs
Masala chai is made with black tea, spices, sugar and milk. It is basically black tea simmered with spices, sugar and milk. Various spices like cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms, nutmeg, black pepper and ginger are used.
Chai is a generic term meaning ‘tea’ in Hindi, while masala chai means ‘spiced tea’. Masala means ‘spices’ and chai means ‘tea’.
Yes a lot of Indians drink masala tea every day, round the year. But it depends on where you live and your body constitution. If you live in a hot and humid weather, reduce the warming spices like cloves and black pepper and increase the quantity of green cardamoms. Limit your consumption to 1 to 2 cups a day.
You have used too much water or too little milk. The right ratio of water to milk is very crucial to make a good chai. For best results, you will need anywhere from 1:1 to 3:1 ratios (W: M) depending on the kind of milk.
Full fat Homogenized, toned & raw cow milk work with 3:1 ratio while low fat and non-homogenized cow milk (pasteurized, pre-boiled) work with 1:1 ratio. However do experiment a few times to arrive at what works well for you.
Using a lot of tea leaves or powder can make your tea bitter. The amount of tea to use again depends on the brand of tea and kind of milk you use. Try reducing the quantity of tea next time or add more milk and simmer for a while to cut down the bitterness.
Most masala tea recipes use fresh ginger. If you use fresh ginger, always boil it first along with black tea, until the decoction reaches a boiling point. Add the milk only after that. Adding milk early before the ginger boils can curdle the milk due to ginger protease enzyme known as zingibain. Boiling the ginger to a boiling point will destroy this enzyme so your tea won’t curdle.
Related Recipes
Recipe Card
Masala Chai Recipe first published in September 2014. Updated & Republished in May 2023.
Masala Chai Recipe (Indian Masala Tea)
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
Method 1 – Instant masala chai powder
- 4 green cardamoms (elaichi or ¼ teaspoon ground)
- 2 cloves (3 for stronger flavor or ⅛ teaspoon ground)
- ½ to ¾ inch cinnamon piece (cassia or Ceylon or ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon)
- 2 pepper corn (or a pinch of ground pepper, optional)
To make Tea
- 1½ cups water
- 1 cup full fat milk (adjust to taste, Refer notes)
- 2½ to 3 teaspoons black tea leaves or 1¼ to 1½ teaspoon tea powder (dust) (or 3 to 4 tea bags, Refer notes)
- 2 to 3 teaspoons sugar or as needed
- ½ teaspoon (½ inch) ginger chopped or crushed (optional)
Method 2 – Makes 3 tsp masala chai powder
- 1 teaspoon green cardamoms (5 grams skinned) (elaichi)
- ½ teaspoon cloves (2 grams)
- 2½ to 3 grams cinnamon (cassia or Ceylon)
- ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds (1½ grams) (saunf)
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper corn (½ tsp ground pepper)
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg grated or ⅓ of large nutmeg
- 2 petals star flower (star anise) (chakri phool)
Instructions
How to make Masala Chai (Method 1)
- Add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick & black pepper to a mortar pestle or a spice grinder. Crush or grind them to a powder.
- Heat water in a pot. Add the ground spices, crushed/chopped ginger and tea. (Start with lower amount of tea and if required you may add more after adding milk)
- Bring this to a rolling boil and reduce the heat to medium. Boil for 3 mins until the decoction turns dark.
- Pour milk and add sugar. Bring it to a boil on a medium high heat. (If using tea bags remove them at this stage and keep aside.)
- Reduce the heat and simmer until the chai (tea) becomes dark, for about 2 mins.
- When the masala tea is ready, you will see a layer of cream on top and also the milk flavor is gone.
- Optionally aerate or pull your masala chai for the same Chaiwallah taste. Take a soup ladle and aerate the masala chai or simply pour some chai to a measuring cup. Pour the hot tea in a slow stream, back to the chai pot from a height of 1 to 1½ feet.
- Repeat this step of pulling hot masala chai from the pot to the cup, a few times (4 to 5 times). This breaks down the layer of cream and incorporates it back to the masala chai making it more tasty and thick.
- Strain the masala chai to serving cups & serve with any breakfast, snack or biscuits.
Method 2 – Making masala chai powder or chai masala
- Clean all the spices and add to a blender jar. Powder finely. Store it in an airtight glass jar.
- Use about ½ to ¾ tsp or more to make 2 servings of tea. For stronger tea you can use about ¾ tsp.
Notes
- Avoid overboiling the tea: If you boil too long, the tea turns bitter and becomes too heavy. Turn off when you begin to smell the sweet flavor in your tea.
- Tea powder/ leaves: The strength of tea depends on the kind of tea used like tea powder, tea leaves etc. It also depends on the brand of tea powder or leaves. Do adjust the quantities as desired. You won’t really know the right amount that works well unless you experiment a few times.
- Tea bags: boiling your chai with tea bags for too long can make it too strong or even bitter. So remove them at the time of adding milk.
- Kadak Chai: This recipe will give you a proper Kadak Chai with 1½ teaspoon tea powder (dust) or 3½ teaspoons CTC loose tea leaves (Assam) & full fat homogenized or toned milk.
- Brands of Tea : Wagh bakri, Tata Gold are some of the best known brands for loose leaf tea.
- Milk: Some like tea to be more milky and some less. Also adjust the quantity of milk if needed. I have tested this recipe with various kinds of full fat milk – fresh, homogenized and toned. Fresh homogenized and toned work well with the same quantities mentioned in the recipe.
- Low fat milk: If you are using low fat milk or non-homogenized cow milk, use milk and water in 1:1 proportions.
- Spices: You can increase or decrease the quantity of spices to suit your taste. I buy all my spices locally in Singapore but are grown in India or Sri Lanka.
- A few strands of saffron can be added for a unique flavor.
- You can add few tulsi (holy basil) leaves to increase immunity, though we may not benefit as much as eating the raw leaves.
Video
Watch Masala Chai Video
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Thank you for the amazing guide. I use your recipes in my chai sandwich cafe and they are very helpful
Hi Swasthi, in your video, are you using tea leaves or tea powder please? Is the Tata Gold tea in tea leaves or in tea powder form? thank you.
Hi Dori,
It is tea leaves (in CTC form)
Thank you for your reply!
Genius! Made this chai tea for the second time and I am loving it. I used ground spices but excited to try with whole spices soon. Thank you
Happy to know you like it. Thanks for letting us know
Best Indian Chai I ever made! Used all ground spices and it was so easy
Thank you Gabriel
Just went on a trip to Ooty where we bought some Nilgiri black tea! I made this recipe using some of the tea and it’s delicious, thanks for the pictures that really helped!
Happy to read that Sumita. Thank you
Thanks for the authentic recipe! I love your explanations of each ingredient, informative and to the point. My friend invited me to her Ramadan Iftar dinner and I loved her secret masala chai recipe and have been wanting to recreate it myself! Can’t wait to try this recipe out! One question: if I make the masala chai powder from spices, do I then add the spice mix to black tea that I make when I want it and then add milk? What’s the process to make it with the spice mix? Other than that, thank you for the authentic recipe!
Hi Audrey,
Yes you are right. You will follow the same method to make chai. Just that you will make a larger batch of chai masala first and add it while making the tea as given in the recipe. Hope you enjoy!
Great recipe! I would appreciate it if you could dispel some confusion.
First, you differentiate between loose tea, CTC tea, and tea powder. But later on, you lump loose tea and CTC together (“2.5 to 3 teaspoons CTC loose leaf back Tea or …”). Also, in therecipe card, you only refer to “2.5 to 3 teaspoons black tea leaves” without any reference to CTC. So, is CTC the same as loose leaf tea or not? And if not, how much would you recommend I use of each.
Thank you in advance for sharing your expertise!
Thanks Marc. Yes CTC is loose leaf tea. Any tea (ctc or dust) that is not bagged in tea bags is called loose tea. If it is ctc processed it is ctc loose leaf tea. I didn’t mention it in the recipe card as ctc because it won’t be mentioned on the packages. Readers may get confused when they are looking to buy. It is only a technical fact that helps you to choose the kind of tea used in a chai recipe. Use the same amount as mentioned in the recipe. Hope you get to try!
Delicious Indian chai! I made it for a small dinner party and everyone loved it. I bought the Indian chai leaves from amazon which worked pretty well. Thank you
Thank you for trying and sharing back with us Mark.
This is the best Chai. I love it so much. Does anyone have any recommendations on store but powder that could taste similar to this? I love making this and definitely make this whenever I have time, but I want a mix that I could use to take similar to this when I am on a time crunch
Hi Brenda,
Thank you for trying. Unfortunately nothing from the stores come close to this. You can make the chai decoction ahead and refrigerate, heat up with milk in a microwave. Hope this helps
This is my absolute favorite chai recipe, and I have tried many. I drink it all winter long. Thank you!!!
Glad you like it Megan. Thank you
This is the BEST chai recipe I ever made. My 80 year old grandma too loved it. She says she wants to make it herself when she returns back home. However I do not know the conversion from whole to ground spices for the instant chai. Would you be able to provide? Thanks for your reply.
So happy to read that your grandma loved it. Thank you Sam. I will update the conversion from whole to ground in the recipe card. Hope this helps
Very good recipe. Loved it. Any idea how to make 8 cups tea? Do I just increase everything proportionally? Thanks in advance.
Sorry Poornima. I think I am too late. Key in 8 in serving box, you will get the recipe for 8 servings.
Swasthi, I use your page all the time for chai and curry recipes. The tips you include are very helpful and everything always comes out delish. Thank you for creating this website!
So happy to read that Maya. Thank you for sharing back!
Hi, tried your recipe Method 1 for first time and I really love it! Will def make it more often also for family and friends. Just one thing I am curious, my apologies if i missed it, why is there a difference in spices in method 1 and 2? Can I also use the spices of method 2 for method 1? If yes then how much of nutmeg, anise and fennel should i use? Thanks for the recipe and your reply!
Hi Nina,
Glad your family loved the chai. For the instant method (recipe1) I don’t want to reach out to so many jars of spices every single time. If I want to use all of those spices, then I make the spice blend (method 2). Yes you can use a pinch of each per serving. Hope this helps
Delicious! Made your recipe 1 but I also added a pinch of nutmeg at the end. Can the leftovers be stored and for how long? How would you reheat it? Thanks for the reply
That’s nice to know Tamara. Yes you can store the chai for 2 days. It is ideal to cool down immediately and store for better flavor. If you leave it out for several hours and then store the taste alters. You can reheat on the stovetop with a splash of water (to prevent it turning too thick & strong). Alternately you may reheat in a microwave or the instant pot for 0 mins at high pressure.
Thank you! Was searching for the perfect recipe. Celestial seasonings used to have a coconut Thai chai and I have missed it since they quit offering it. I used your basic recipe added anise and nutmeg and allspice and finished with coconut milk- – – PERFECTION. Thank you SO much!
Wow! That sounds so good Cee Stre. Thank you for sharing back with us.
I have made with dairy a few times but this time don’t have milk. Do you think I can use heavy cream for this chai? If so how much?
Yes you can use 3 tablespoons heavy cream and scant 1 cup (220 ml) water per serving. Bring it close to room temperature before incorporating into the prepared chai or add it slowly in batches. It won’t need a simmer, so you may add it at the end & bring to a boil. Hope this helps
Am a Ugandan Chef and i always like to follow your channel, always it perfectly work for me and most of Indians and Pakistanis they do like my food and they are my regular customers always
Great! Thank you chef! So happy to read that!
I once visited UAE along with my husband when he went for work. I would have Indian chai often and loved it. I tried to replicate but none came close to that. Most of the recipes I have tried are made the way chai tastes in the west with lots of milk and less chai. But this chai recipe worked out great and it tastes actually much better than what I expected. I am going to make a small batch to reheat the next couple of days. How would you reheat it? microwave? Thank you
Happy to read that Alicia. You can reheat the chai on stovetop with a splash of water, until bubbling hot. Microwave works too, 30 to 40 seconds if it is 1000 watts+ else a little longer. You can also do 0 mins high pressure in the instant pot
Thank you for the amazing chai recipe. As a non-Indian this post was very helpful to crack down the formula for the best Indian chai. It is a staple now in my catering place. However I have been trying to come up with plant based options and tried various kinds of plant milk. But haven’t got the authentic chai tea flavor like I get using dairy. Upon changing the method I only ended with a chai latte not masala chai. Any thoughts or advice would be very helpful.
Glad the recipe is helpful to you Stella. The fats in dairy cut down the astringent taste and balance the flavors. I have tried the plant based versions and as you said nothing comes close. Try using plant based dry milk (milk powder) or plant based condensed/ evaporated milk. That should come closer to what you are looking for. FYI – I use 2 tbsps of dry milk (but dairy) per serving of chai and it turns out somewhat close. Give that a try and see.
This recipe is crazy! Best Masala Chai I’ve ever had. Even tops the ones I’ve got in restaurants in Kerala by a longshot. Are they maybe using shortcuts like Wagh Bakri Chai tea mixes instead of fresh spices? Asking because all of them had the same flavor profile, but none of them tasted this punchy and developed.
Thanks Sridhar. I guess restaurants in Kerala (especially those in the resorts and star hotels) use locally grown tea from local suppliers. May be the spice blend could be the same too. There are several local brands of masala chai mix. May be they are all using the same brand. That could be the reason they tasted same. Wagh bhakri is assam tea while Kerala tea is Nilgiri variety. They both taste also different. If you ever get a chance, try making masala chai with tata gold (15% long leaves). It makes the best chai