One Cup Chai
A comforting vegetarian built around earl grey tea leaves and cardamom pods — roughly 60 minutes start to finish, and rated medium to make. Below: the ingredients split into pantry staples and a quick shopping list, a built-in serving scaler, and the method in 7 steps.
You'll mainly reach for saucepan and pan. At medium difficulty across 7 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Shopping list (2)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Lightly crush the cardamom pods and the black peppercorns in a mortar to release their aroma, and bruise the slices of fresh ginger.
- Pour the water into a saucepan, add the crushed cardamom, peppercorns, cinnamon stick and ginger, then bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes to draw out the spices.
- Stir in the earl grey tea leaves and let them steep at a gentle simmer for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the milk and bring the chai back up to a near boil, watching carefully so it does not boil over.
- Lower the heat and let it simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes so the flavours deepen and the tea turns a rich tan colour.
- Stir in the honey until fully dissolved, then taste and adjust the sweetness as you like.
- Strain the chai through a fine sieve into four cups and serve piping hot.
You'll use: Saucepan · Pan
Ingredient substitutions
- Milk
- any unsweetened plant milk · ½ cup evaporated milk + ½ cup water
- Honey
- maple syrup · agave
Tips & common questions
How long does One Cup Chai take to make?
About 60 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 7 steps and 8 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of milk?
Try any unsweetened plant milk. See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is One Cup Chai vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
One Cup Chai is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Haldiram's Chai.jpg by Vansh Soni, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.