What is Masala Chai? | Looking at the Ingredients

Chai is usually described as a robust spiced tea served with milk and sugar. Masala Chai is literally translated to “spiced tea”. As you read in the origin section, it did not always have milk or even black tea as we know it to have today! But today’s modern and most popular version of Masala Chai uses CTC Assam (in the Indian subcontinent), Unrefined cane sugar, ginger, cardamom, and milk. I have found love in using CTC Assam, milk, clove, cardamom, sugar, and cinnamon. Is it still masala chai? Let’s look into this:

What is Masala Chai?

The first rule of making masala chai is that there are no rules to making masala chai. Many times, people used the spices and tea that they had on hand. Talking to Tanisha, I really made the realization that chai is really more about togetherness than the actual ingredients. But with that said, here is a closer look at some of the more common elements of Masala Chai.

Assam CTC: This is a black tea from India that is in the form of Crush, Tear, Curl developed in the 1930s. These hard tea pellets are made from multiple cylindrical rollers, with sharper teeth that crush, tear, and curl the tea leaves. The downside to this tea is that it can be more homogenous in flavor profile, becoming harsher and astringent in taste due to more oxidation. The base of Masala Chai…