Espresso · Milk
How to make a dirty chai
A dirty chai is a chai latte with one shot of espresso added.
- Coffee
- 18 g
- Cup
- 256 ml
- Temp
- 93 °C
- Time
- 6:30
The name is café slang and no standard defines it. This page builds a smaller chai than the chai latte page, so that a 36 g espresso still shows through. If you only want tea, make that page's recipe instead. If you need an estimate of how much caffeine a day of drinks adds up to, the caffeine calculator will do the arithmetic.
The spec
| Part | Amount |
|---|---|
| Espresso | 18 g in, 36 g out (1:2) |
| Black tea leaf | 3 g |
| Water | 100 ml |
| Milk | 120 ml |
| Whole spices | 2 cardamom pods, 1 clove, a 1 cm cinnamon stick, 2 thin ginger slices |
| Cup | 400 ml bowl-style mug |
| Total in cup | about 256 ml |
| Total time | 390 seconds |
At 256 ml the cup is about 64 percent full, which leaves room for the shot to be poured in without spilling.
You need
- An espresso machine, a grinder and a scale reading to 0.1 g.
- A small saucepan.
- A fine strainer.
- A mug or bowl of about 400 ml.
- A timer.
Ratio 1:2 · Grind: Espresso · grind chart
Starting ranges come from your grinder maker’s own guide. Burrs, beans and calibration vary, so treat them as where to begin.
Steps
- 0:00, Simmer spices in 100 ml water.
Crack the cardamom, add it to the pan with the clove, cinnamon, ginger and 100 ml of water. Bring to a gentle simmer.
- 1:30, Add 3 g tea, steep at a low simmer.
Add 3 g of tea and hold a low simmer for 2.5 minutes.
- 4:00, Add 120 ml milk, heat to just under a simmer.
Add 120 ml of milk and heat to just under a simmer. Do not let it boil.
- 5:30, Pull 18 g into 36 g.
Dose 18 g and stop near 36 g into a small cup.
- 6:00, Strain chai into mug, add the shot.
Strain the chai into the mug, then pour the espresso in. Stir once.
My notes for this recipe
How two bitter drinks balance
Tea and espresso both have a bitter edge. Milk and a small amount of sugar are what keep them in check, so this drink usually wants slightly more milk relative to tea than a plain chai. That is the reason this build uses 3 g of tea in 100 ml of water, then 120 ml of milk, with the tea steeping a little shorter than in the plain version.
If the cup tastes bitter, change one lever at a time: cut the tea steep to 2 minutes, then reduce the shot to 30 g, then add sugar. If the spice disappears under the coffee, add a second ginger slice.
Why these numbers
36 g from 18 g. Authored. It is the 1:2 beverage ratio used throughout CupTune, see the espresso recipe. A smaller shot of 30 g is a reasonable option here.
3 g of tea, 100 ml of water. Authored. That is 3 g per 100 ml in the water stage, which is stronger than the ISO 3103:2019 laboratory reference of 2 g per 100 ml of boiling water. That standard specifies a 6-minute steep for black tea (its Table 1) and exists to compare tea samples, not to make a drink.
120 ml of milk. Authored. It is meant to cushion both bitter components.
Spice amounts. Authored, roughly two-thirds of the chai latte page.
Timings. Authored: 90, 150, 90, 30 and 30 seconds. The shot comes last so that it is fresh and not stale when it meets the chai. The cost is that the milk stands for 30 seconds before the shot lands. That is acceptable at this volume.
If it looks or tastes wrong
- Sour and sharp. The shot ran short or fast. Check the shot time and grind. See the dial-in guide.
- Tea tastes lost. The espresso is too large. Use 30 g or raise tea to 4 g.
- Muddy and heavy. Too much of everything. Cut the clove to half.
- Curdled. The milk was too hot or acidic. Warm it more gently and add the shot to the mug, not into the pan.
- Not warm enough. Rinse the mug with hot water first.
None of these fixes was tested; each is CupTune's judgement.
Evidence and limits
The ISO 3103 ratio and steep time are used only as a reference and come from the standard's own text. Everything else on this page is authored: the espresso weight, the tea dose, the water and milk volumes, spice counts and every time. No source defines a dirty chai, and CupTune cites no sensory study on how the two bitter flavours interact. Caffeine in a cup varies with the beans, the tea and the shot, so this page gives no caffeine figure. Use the calculator for a rough estimate and treat it as an estimate.
Questions
Does the espresso go in first?
In this build it goes in last, so it stays fresh. Some people put it in first. Either way works, and the difference is small.
Can I use instant coffee instead of espresso?
As a substitution, yes. About 2 g in 30 ml of hot water. The taste will be different.
What size shot is best?
Authored 36 g here. Try 30 g for a more tea-forward cup.