Reviewed: Dec. 30, 2011

Recipe group recipe for this week. Like some of the others, I did find it to be a weaker tea than I personally like, but I also took the suggestion of another reviewer and opened up the tea bag and added the ground cardamom and cinnamon along with the whole peppercorns to one bag. I steeped 2 bags to 2 cups of water and that helped a lot. Chai generally is a sweet tea so I did add a generous amount of sugar and cream and it did make a nice and refreshing end to a long week. Next time, I'll add more spices and kick it up some.

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Reviewer:

Avon

Cooking Level: Expert

Reviewed: Dec. 26, 2011

I made this for "recipe group" 12/26/2011. As a couple of reviewers mentioned this does have a weak flavor, unless I have just become accustomed to the chai tea bags at the store. I cut the recipe in half to 3 servings. I just microwaved the water and spices. Then, I added the tea bags and sugar and let it sit the 5 minutes. I had all the spices except cardamom. On-line I found that nutmeg is an acceptable subtitute, so I just added a couple pinches of ground nutmeg. With the cost of cinnamon sticks, I think it still would be more affordable to buy chai tea bags for $3 dollars a box. Either way, I like the recipe for chai latte on here, so I added a little steamed milk, sprayed whipped cream, and extra cinnamon on top. It was more flavored than regular tea, I just wouldn't think exactly of chai. It was nice on this cold evening though.

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Reviewer:

Baker Bee

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Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Detroit, Michigan, USA

Living In: Richmond, Virginia, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 15, 2011

weak!

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Reviewer:

jlt987

Reviewed: Jun. 7, 2010

This recipe is SO GOOD! I loved it so much! But you know I have to agree it was a little bit to plain and bland for my taste.

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Reviewer:

Cassie

Reviewed: Mar. 15, 2010

Okay, I imagined this a much darker tea and, I agree with the others in the fact that it was a little "weak". Not the spices themselves but just the tea flavor. I did scale the recipe down but I still think it needs more tea bags. I didn't have cinnamon sticks but used ground instead. Maybe this was why it reddened up? Not sure but all in all it did have a good flavor combo and I will make it again once I get the sticks. The way I see it, "weak" is very fixable when the all over flavor is good.******update******I made this again and used quite a bit of milk this time and it was good.

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Reviewer:

Soup Loving Nicole

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Living In: West Fork, Arkansas, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 23, 2008

If you ground the spices and add them into the teabag (its what I usually do, then i carefully staple the bag shut) and boil it for a while, the oils from the spices actually blend in with the flavor of the tea. I'm rating it 4 stars because I love the combination of spices - these are my favorite spices, and it's a joy to be able to drink them in tea (whihc is also my favorite beverage.)

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Reviewer:

Mad Izatie

Reviewed: Feb. 9, 2006

I also found this recipe a little too bland, so the next time round I used ground cardamon and cinnamon, the pepper corms and the sugar. It still needed a bit more oomph, so I added 1/4 tsp each nutmeg and cloves, and a piece of candied ginger. It now suits my taste much better but I may tweak it a bit further. I've been put on a dairy-free diet. A cup of tea without milk in it is too hard to adapt to, so I'm on the lookout for an acceptable replacement hot drink in the morning.

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Reviewer:

COOKINKIWI

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Living In: Milton, Ontario, Canada

Reviewed: Oct. 29, 2002

I have to agree, this is very weak. I add allspice, ginger and cloves and let simmer at least 20-30 mins. Then it varies between ok and good, but not fabulous.

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Reviewer:

YANKEEDOODLEANDI

Reviewed: Sep. 20, 2001

Very weak compared to other chai I've tried, both commercial cartons of chai and restaurant chai. I compared this recipe with a couple others I found in a cookbook, and they added whole allspice and simmered the mixture for 10-20 minutes. That should improve the intensity of the flavor but, as is, this is far too weak and bland, even before the addition of any milk.

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