Apple Accented Chai Tea

This is one of my favorite fall recipes. It has a great flavor of ginger, cinnamon, and honey. It makes about a half gallon of liquid chai mix. I usually mix it 3 or 4 parts chai mix to 1 part milk.

25 - 1 to 1.5 inch slices of fresh ginger

18 cups of water

15 to 18 tea bags depending on the type

2 Tablespoons Sugar

12 to 14 - 6 inch Vanilla Beans Cut into 1 inch sections

25 Cardamom Seeds

20 Whole Cloves

1/2 Teaspoon nutmeg

8 - 4 Inch Cinnamon Sticks

1.3 Cups honey

3 or 4 apples

Cut the vanilla beans into one inch sections, the ginger into 1/8 inch wide slices, and one whole apple into thin sectional slices (make sure to remove all seeds but they do not have be cored). Count out the correct number of cardamom seeds, whole cloves, and cinnamon sticks.

Mix all ingredients (except the honey) into a large pot, and place it on to the stove top over medium to high heat. Bring the mix to a boil,stirring occasionally, then lower heat to low and simmer covered for 20 minutes.

Note: I put a range on the number of tea bags because it depends on the type you use and the strength of the bags. If you use a darjeeling or a weakish decaffinated black, use more bags. If you use a strong black tea (english or irish breakfast), I prefer less tea to prevent the tea flavor from overwhelming.

After 20 minutes add the honey, stir until it is dissolved, then simmer for another 10 minutes covered. Pour the mix from one pot into another through a thin strainer to filter out the larger ingredients.

I often take the filtered ingredients and reboil them with half the water, half the honey, and half the tea bags.

As I said before, I mix the chai mix with about 20% milk, and heat again.

To serve the chai, I cut an apple into a cup. I cut the top off, dug out the content with a spoon, and poured the hot chai inside.

Put the tops on to keep the chai warm while your serve them.

Hope you enjoy.