Iced Chai
Makes 6 cups
This is an adaptation of my favorite cooked chai recipe from The Ayurvedic Cookbook by Amadea Morningstar. I fell in love with this chai from the first time I made it and now those chai drinks from the coffee shops just don’t cut it!! I just tried this raw version for the first time this morning and I could have finished the whole thing off straight from the blender!!! It takes longer to make because the mint needs to be soaked in the water like a sun tea but it is definitely worth it! I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 10 mint leaves (I like spearmint)
- 3 cups nut milk (almond, walnut, etc.)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
- ½ cup raw honey or agave, (you may want to use less)
Preparation
Begin by placing mint leaves in the 3 cups of water and let sit in a warm, sunny location for a few hours. (If you don’t have any nut milk prepared, now is a good time to soak 1 cup of nuts so that you can make the milk and the chai at the same time.)
When the mint has soaked for a few hours, prepare your nut milk and strain. Return nut milk to blender. remove the mint leaves from water and save for another use, adding the 3 cups of mint water to the blender with your nut milk. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend for 1-2 minutes to help the flavors “marry”.
Serve over ice, or, if your blender can handle ice crushing, add the ice to the chai and blend to make a chai smoothie. Yum, yum, yum. Try not to drink it all in one sitting. :-)
Comments
rawmama writes: (June 17, 2007)
What a beautiful taste! I LOVE it! Very light and refreshing, the mint water really lightens it up perfectly! I made mine out of almonds, brazil and pumpkin seeds. Added cloves to the nutmilk first to grind them up then strained all…at that point our daughter was drinking it and LOVING it! LOL…thank you so much for sharing, this will be a regular drink for me :) Wouldn’t this be great as ice cream (Vice cream)???!!!
rawmama writes: (June 17, 2007)
I can’t stop drinking this LOL! The colder it gets, the more mellow it gets…delicious!
omshanti writes: (June 17, 2007)
just tried it!!!! this is awesome!!!! I have hung onto my chai and thai ice teas even though i sweeten them with agave and use almond milk…they where still not raw….this however….DIVINE!!! thanks.
Linda writes: (June 19, 2007)
Thanks for all of your great comments. I love the Vice cream idea!! LOL! I’d bet that one of those high powered blenders and a lot of ice would do it! Cheers, Linda
starla writes: (June 19, 2007)
Awesome! Instead of using powdered ginger, I juiced a bit.
starla writes: (June 19, 2007)
I juiced a bit of fresh ginger. Sorry, didn’t quite finish that thought ;-)
earthintruder writes: (July 16, 2007)
this sounds sooo yummy! can’t waut to try it!
issy writes: (August 07, 2007)
Wow – yum!! I can’t wait to try this. I LOVE iced chai!!
leafekat writes: (August 14, 2007)
The first time I made this I didn’t have cardamom so I replaced it with nutmeg. I turned out really nice. The second time I made it I had the cardamom so I didn’t use the nutmeg. I had to go back and add some because I liked it better with the nutmeg. Thanks for the great chia recipe!
musingmama writes: (August 31, 2007)
So very yum . . .I used brazil nut milk, cardamom & nutmeg, 1/4 cup honey as well as a few drops of vanilla stevia. It only tasted better the next day! I also used it as smoothie base, added 1 TB maca, 1 TB cacao and a frozen banana. Thanks!!
bellasera writes: (September 01, 2007)
Mouth watering!
nancephi writes: (September 08, 2007)
okay, that was amazing! just finished a whole glass of it and really want to go back for more…too good!
writeeternity writes: (September 09, 2007)
wonderful!
zhanna8 writes: (September 26, 2007)
i bet it as good warm
chela140 writes: (November 06, 2007)
Can’t wait to try!!!! yum!!
chela140 writes: (November 06, 2007)
Can’t wait to try!!!! yum!!
justagirl writes: (December 24, 2007)
this sounds awesome..can’t wait to try
dmstith writes: (January 01, 2008)
trying this NOW.
cityNnature writes: (January 11, 2008)
OMG this is amazing!!! I didn’t have any of the spices other than cinnamon and ginger, so I used Tea Masala that my friend brought from India. This has to be the best chai I’ve ever had!
chrissypie123 writes: (January 29, 2008)
this soundz sooooooooo good.
sueko writes: (February 21, 2008)
I just made this and it was and is sooooooo good. It is cold and raining (yes, even here in sunny California) so I put the mint in a glass jar and steeped in in the dehydrater overnight at 100 degrees and it worked just fine. OMG I can’t tell you how delicious this is. Make it now! Thanks Linda.
amysue writes: (June 12, 2008)
This was a really nice summer breakfast, love the mint idea!
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