I admit I’m a bit of a chai tea latte addict. Because they’re $4 a cup, I don’t buy them often. But when I do nothing can beat the major shot of comfort food-nostalgia-taste-of-Christmas-year-round experience of a warm, frothy chai. Mmmm. Because of that, I have a milk frother and buy boxes of Tazo chai and make my own at home.
But recently, I started thinking about how great it would be to give the gift of chai to my friends. Something instant that I could easily package and hand out to the masses that wouldn’t cost me a fortune or take too much time. This started my search for a good chai tea latte recipe. Once I found one I thought would work, I tweaked it a bit to fit my tastes. And then I made it for friends to taste test. It got rave reviews.
Next, I made several big batches of the instant chai, designed a label, and packaged it. Now that it’s all done, I thought I’d share it all with you. I’m passing along both the recipe, plus the labels I used (you can download them in a pdf here). Then you, too, can share the gift of chai with your friends and family by whipping up these inexpensive, quick-to-make gifts!
Chai Tea Latte Recipe:
2 cups powdered milk
2 cups non-dairy creamer (regular flavored)
2 cups flavored non-dairy creamer (my favorites are either French Vanilla for a typical chai taste, or Pumpkin Spice for a wintery chai taste)
3 cups sugar or splenda
4 cups unsweetened instant tea
4 teaspoons ginger
6 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons each: cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice and coriander
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Mix all the above ingredients together. Place in a blender, coffee grinder, food processor or Vitamix and blend until fine powder. (If you’re using a blender or coffee grinder, you’ll have to blend it in small batches.)
To use: fill a mug with boiling water, stir in 2-4 teaspoons of chai mix and enjoy.
Packaging:
I packaged the chai in two different ways. The first, for larger quantities, I used pint-sized paint cans. You can get new, empty paint cans at the paint store and they’re super cheap, like $1.25 each or so.
I bagged the chai in a non-ziplock quart storage bag (the kind that comes with the little plastic coated wire tie to use as a closing device), stuck it in the can, hammered the lid down, and affixed the label with rubber cement (although just a glue stick would probably do the trick).
The second, smaller package is one of those heavy-duty bags that can be ironed to seal. I get them wholesale at a bag making place, but you might be able to find something similar at a craft store. For the smaller bags, I measured 1/2 cup of mix into the bag, sealed it with an iron (on the lowest temperature) and then used a variation of the larger label (putting the front and back together and shrinking it a bit). I folded the label over and stapled it into place.
Wa LA! There you have it. Free labels and recipe for you, so you can make super fast, super affordable homemade gifts.
Hope you enjoy it!
