This Iced Ginger Chai drink is based on one of my favorite products, Bhakti Chai. My homemade chai recipe is heavy on the ginger, cardamom, and black pepper. I love a good cool, yet spicy drink in the summer.
While I love Bhakti Chai, it does not love me. There is way too much caffeine in regular chai for my body type, which is the vata dosha. Even the decaffeinated product contains small amounts of caffeine, which is too much for me. I use rooibos tea, which is herbal, as the base of my homemade chai recipe. This way I get the black tea flavor without any of the caffeine.
There are many ways that you could adapt this recipe, more spices, less spices, different spices, ground spices. Feel free to experiment with it and if you do, please let us know what changes you made and how well they worked.
Iced Ginger Chai
Ingredients
- 2 quarts water
- ½ cup finely chopped fresh ginger, skin on
- 10 cardamom pods
- 5 whole cloves
- 10 whole peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ¼ cup organic loose rooibos tea
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil
- Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes
- Cool 3 hours
- Use a fine mesh strainer to transfer mixture into a one quart mason jar
- Fill each glass with ice, 1 cup chai mixture, and ¼ cup Almond Milk
- Serve
In my incredible cache of gluten-free recipes, I have a recipe for a hot chai which you’ll love. Chai, hot or cold, goes super well with any of my fan favorite paleo biscotti recipes below!
Laura says
It says “5 whole ground cloves”. Is that supposed to be 5 Whole cloves, or is it actually ground. If it’s ground, is it 5 cloves that you ground yourself? What would the amount be for pre-ground?
Elana says
Laura, thanks so much, we’ve corrected this error.
rhianne says
Dear Elana,
I am just getting into Ayurveda, I too am a Vata, and as much as I love the raw food movement (life foods) my digestive system has gotten weaker as of late, and i need to get myself fired up, with warmer foods.
I notice you are a Vata, and wonder if you have any of your goodies that would be better for vata dosha than others, I do love my sweets I must admit. I see that maple syrup is a good sweetner for vata, any other comments or suggestions?
thanks for all your amazing work, I am so inspired and delighted by your recipes..
blessings
Rhianne
Elana says
Rhianne, warming foods are great for the vata dosha and my soup recipes are perfect for people like us all year round!
https://elanaspantry.com/category/soups/
Enjoy!
Elana
Leigh says
This is just what I needed! I never got really into my ayruvedic disposition, but I know enough to know I am vata. Makes so much sense now that the black tea I’ve been drinking in the mornings has been making me cook! I just made this and it is soooo refreshing. Thanks for sharing fellow vata!
Elana says
Leigh, you’re very welcome!
Lydia McD says
Wow, looks great. I’ve been drinking turmeric tea this week (made with coconut milk beverage, fresh ginger, pepper, cinnamon, a little honey, and coconut oil) and it’s so good. It makes me think that adding turmeric to this would take advantage of the synergy with black pepper that it has, and still keep it native, so to speak.
Elana says
Thanks Lydia! That sounds great :-)
Jennafer says
Thanks for the recipe. I made it in the morning on our rare cold and rainy day and drank it in the evening. I didn’t have cardamom pods, so I used 5 tsp of cardamom seeds. And because it was cold, I drank it hot. I filled my cup 3/4 full of chai and 1/4 milk then dumped it in a pot and heated it. I like it spicy! It turned out great!
Elana says
Jennafer, I’m so glad to hear this was great!
Laureen says
Elana, I like rooibos tea and I like chai tea but I never thought to put them together and serving it chilled…sounds like a perfect summer pick me up.
Elana says
Laureen thanks!