Spicing up my tea

Left: Whole Masala Chai Spices. Right: Ground Masala Chai Spice Mix (Photo by Cynthia Nelson)

Hi Everyone, My world of tea drinking took an exotic twist back in 2007 when friends from the Indian sub-continent introduced me to tea masala (masala chai).

Masala Chai is spiced tea (chai is the Hindi word for tea). In other words, it is a milky tea that is made with a blend of spices and sweetened with sugar. Most of us are familiar with some type of masala. The word (masala) itself refers to a mix of spices. Garam masala is the most popular type of masala in our part of the world;