Assembled · Tea

How to make a chai latte

Name: Chai latte
Total time: 7 min 30 s
Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients: 4 g black tea leaf; 150 ml water; 150 ml milk; 3 pods green cardamom; 2 cloves; a 2 cm cinnamon stick; 3 thin slices fresh ginger; 10 g sugar, optional

A chai latte is black tea and whole spices simmered together, then finished with milk.

Tea: 4 g
Cup: 300 ml
Temp: 95 °C
Time: 7:30

Brew this now

Scale to g

This page makes one large mug on the stove, with a 7.5-minute sequence. It is a café-style chai, not a regional reference recipe: families and cities make masala chai in many ways, and no body defines one correct blend. The numbers below are a clear starting point you can change.

The spec

Part	Amount
Black tea leaf	4 g (a strong Assam or CTC style suits milk)
Water	150 ml
Milk	150 ml
Whole spices	3 green cardamom pods, 2 cloves, a 2 cm cinnamon stick, 3 thin slices of fresh ginger
Sugar	10 g, optional
Cup	bowl-style mug, 400 ml
Simmer temperature	just below boiling, about 95 °C
Total time	450 seconds

Together the liquid is 300 ml, a little less after simmering.

You need

A small saucepan, about 1 litre.
A scale reading to 0.1 g.
A fine strainer.
A mortar or the flat of a knife, to crack the cardamom.
A spoon and a timer.
A mug or bowl of about 400 ml.

Steps

0:00, Simmer spices in 150 ml water. 2:00
Crack the cardamom pods, then put them in the pan with the cloves, cinnamon, ginger and 150 ml of water. Bring to a gentle simmer.
2:00, Add 4 g tea, steep at a low simmer. 3:00
Add 4 g of tea. Keep the pan at a low simmer for 3 minutes. The liquid should be deep amber.
5:00, Add 150 ml milk, heat to about 95 °C. 2:00 · to 300 g
Pour in 150 ml of milk. Bring it back to just below a simmer, about 95 °C, watching that it does not boil over. Add the sugar here.
7:00, Strain into the mug. 30 s
Pour through the strainer into the mug.

The steep and the milk

Black tea is bitter if it steeps too long in boiling water. In milk drinks that bitterness is part of the balance, because milk softens it. That is the reason chai is steeped differently from plain tea.

For reference, the ISO 3103:2019 method, used in laboratories to prepare black tea for tasting, specifies 2 g of leaf per 100 ml of boiling water for 6 minutes (its Table 1). This recipe uses 4 g in 150 ml of water, about 2.7 g per 100 ml, a stronger first stage, because the milk goes in afterward and dilutes it to roughly 1.3 g per 100 ml of the final drink. The 3-minute simmer is CupTune's authored choice. ISO 3103 exists to compare samples, not to tell you how to make chai.

Whole milk gives a rounder result than skim. Plant milks can curdle with tea or split with heat. Add them off the boil.

Why these numbers

4 g tea. Authored, chosen so that the tea is still present after 150 ml of milk. Use 5 g for a stronger drink.

150 ml water and 150 ml milk. Authored. Equal parts is a common home ratio. More milk gives a gentler cup, more water a sharper one.

Spices. Authored quantities for one mug. Whole spices are used because ground ones leave sediment. Crack cardamom so the seeds release.

95 °C and 3 minutes. Authored. Simmering gives enough heat to pull flavour from the spices, while the lower end of a simmer protects the milk.

Total 450 seconds. The sum of the steps: 120, 180, 120 and 30.

If it looks or tastes wrong

Bitter and harsh. The tea steeped too long, or the pan boiled hard. Cut the simmer to 2 minutes.
Weak and milky. Raise tea to 5 g or cut the milk to 120 ml.
Boiled over. Milk expands as it heats. Use a larger pan and stay with it.
Skin on top. Stir during the last minute and serve promptly.
Gritty. Strain through a finer sieve and avoid ground spice.
Plant milk split. Add it off the heat and warm it gently.

The fixes are CupTune's judgement for a stovetop chai, not tested results.

Evidence and limits

The ISO 3103 ratio and times come from the standard's own text. They apply to a laboratory sensory method, not to chai. The tea dose, water and milk volumes, spice list, simmer time and temperature are all authored. There is no cited study on the best spice mix. Cardamom size, tea strength and stove power vary a lot. If your first cup tastes off, change one thing, like the steep time, and keep the rest.

Questions

Can I use a tea bag?

Yes. Use two bags, roughly 4 g, and shorten the simmer by 30 seconds.

Is chai latte the same as masala chai?

Not exactly. A latte version is usually milder and larger. Masala chai is a family of home recipes.

Can I make it with concentrate?

Yes, but that is a different drink with a different timer.