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Maggie Ellery
Recipes

Vanilla Chai Tea Mix: A Café Chai Latte From Your Pantry

Instant tea, two creamers and seven warm spices make 38 mugs of vanilla chai. Just add hot water, or hot milk for a latte.

By Maggie Ellery · Jump to recipe
A jar of homemade chai tea mix on a wooden board with bowls of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and a mug of chai

A chai latte from a coffee shop is one of those small winter pleasures that adds up fast. This jar is the same cozy, spiced, vanilla-sweet cup, made with hot water from the kettle. One half-gallon jar makes about 38 mugs, and it takes ten minutes to mix.

What’s in the jar

Chai is black tea, milk, sugar and warm spices. The dry version keeps each of those shelf-stable:

  • Unsweetened instant tea dissolves in hot water, so there’s no steeping and no tea bags.
  • Dry milk and two powdered creamers make it creamy. The French vanilla creamer is where the vanilla comes from.
  • Seven ground spices: ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice and a little white pepper. The pepper is the quiet one; you won’t taste it as heat, just as a warm finish.

The one step that matters

Blend the tea, milk powder and spices first. Ground spices are fine and light, and they like to float on top of the mug. Mixing them into the tea and milk powder before the sugar and creamers go in spreads them evenly, so every spoonful dissolves the same way. Then stir in the sugar and both creamers, and the jar is done.

How to make a mug

2 to 3 tablespoons in a mug of hot water. Start with 2 if you like it lighter and less sweet, 3 for a café-style cup. Stir until it dissolves completely.

Three easy ways to change it:

  • Latte-style: make it with hot milk instead of water. It’s richer and closer to what you’d order.
  • Iced chai: dissolve the mix in a splash of hot water, pour it over ice and top with cold milk.
  • Less sweet: use 2 tablespoons per cup and keep it that way.

As a gift

This is one of my favorite jars to split up for the holidays. A pint jar holds about ten mugs’ worth, and a half-pint about five, so one batch covers a handful of teachers, neighbors or coworkers. Put the directions on the tag: “Stir 2–3 tbsp into a mug of hot water.” Add a cinnamon stick under the twine, and it looks like it came from a shop. My free printables include a ready-to-cut chai tag with the directions already written.

Storage

Keep it airtight in a cool, dry cupboard. The milk powder and creamers soak up moisture, so always use a dry spoon. It keeps its best flavor for about 6 months; after that the spices start to fade. If the mix clumps, shake the jar hard or break it up with a fork.

The book marks it gluten-free and low-sodium, at about 24 mg of sodium per mug. Powdered creamers vary by brand, so read the labels if you’re cooking for allergies.

This is one of 20 drink mixes in The Dry Mix Pantry Cookbook, next to hot cocoas, flavored coffee mixes, creamers and herbal teas.

Recipe

Vanilla Chai Tea Mix

Makes about 7 cups (38 mugs)Jar: half-gallonKeeps 6 monthsVegetarianGluten-freeLow sodium

In the jar

  • 2½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1½ cups unsweetened instant tea
  • 1 cup nonfat dry milk
  • 1 cup non-dairy powdered creamer
  • 1 cup French vanilla powdered creamer
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • ¼ tsp ground white pepper

Add on cooking day

  • 1 cup hot water per mug

Make the mix

  1. 1Blend the tea, milk powder and spices first so the mix dissolves smoothly.
  2. 2Stir in the sugar and both creamers and store airtight.

To use

  • Stir 2–3 tbsp into a mug of hot water until dissolved.

From The Dry Mix Pantry Cookbook by Maggie Ellery

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