The Easiest Way To Make Big-Batch Chai Concentrate

Love a sweet-spicy cup of chai, but hate forking over money at your local cafe to get it? We feel you. Maybe you've already switched to buying pre-made chai concentrate during your grocery run. Many stores carry it, and sure, whipping up a chai latte with milk and concentrate at home is a killer money saver compared to paying coffee shop prices. But, what if we told you there's an even better option? All it takes to make flavorful chai concentrate is water, tea bags, and sugar.

By making your own concentrate, you can customize its flavor profile, making it as sweet or spicy as you like. Plus, batch your concentrate and you can keep it on hand for a complex, dimensional latte that's ready in minutes.

This tip comes from a TikTok by @ethanrodecoffee. To do it, use a ratio of 12 bags of chai per 4 cups of water. Simply boil the water in a saucepan on the stove. Once it's rolling, kill the heat, slam in 12 bags of chai, and let 'em steep for four minutes. From there, just stir in ½ cup of granulated sugar to sweeten and add viscosity, then allow the concentrate to cool before using.

The average pre-packaged tea bag contains about 1 ½ to 2 grams of tea leaves. If you're using a bulk bag of loose-leaf chai rather than individual tea bags, weigh out 24 grams of tea per batch of concentrate.

Recipes differ from brand to brand, but it's worth giving the ingredients label a closer look as you grocery shop for your tea bags. Look for a brand of chai that incorporates all the main chai spices that deliver its signature punchy flavor: black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves.

Simply add this concentrate to a glass of oat milk for an iced chai latte, or use the concentrate to make steaming mugs of chai with warmed milk and a whole cinnamon stick to garnish. You could even use your flavorful concentrate to whip up a batch of this Spiced Chai Old Fashioned cocktail as a sophisticated digestif at your next dinner party. Not into strong spirits? This Creamy Chai Vanilla Milkshake is fair game, too.

Store this bad boy in an airtight container in the fridge, like a lidded mason jar or a cylindrical plastic deli container. It doesn't necessarily spoil but lasts for up to five days before starting to lose its quality. Label the container with the brewing date to keep track.