Adapted from Dishoom: From Bombay with love (goodreads). Serves 4.

Ingredients

Approximately 12cm by 2cm piece of ginger, sliced thinly into rounds and bruised
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
18 cardamom pods, bruised (in other words, gently smashed)
3 cinnamon sticks
8 cloves
1L water
4 teabags: Assam or Ceylon¹
50g granulated sugar
500ml whole milk

You’ll also need

1.75L capacity saucepan
Strainer

Method

Place ginger and spices into a saucepan. Pour 1 litre of boiling water over the ginger and spices. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, until fragrant.
Place tea in saucepan. Turn up the heat to bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add 8 teaspoons (about 32g) of sugar and all 500ml of milk. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste to see if it’s to your liking; adjust sugar if needed. If you want the chai to taste stronger, leave to boil for longer.
Strain and discard the solids. Serve immediately.

Notes

For extra frothiness: using two large mugs, strain tea into one of the mugs, then pour tea back and forth between the two mugs, back and forth, from as large a height as you can manage. Do this a few times.

Footnotes

I find any Assam will work well. All you want is a strong, dark, and robust blend. I’ve also used Yorkshire tea successfully. Lipton tea bags are OK in a pinch, I guess, but I find the resulting chai lacking in flavour. If you must, use more tea bags.↩︎