How to make a Chai Latte, Vegan style! 

Our favorite memories of chai come from yoga class and our local Saturday Farmer's Market, and the warming scent of fresh made chai at our favorite Indian restaurants.  Mmmmm. There is just too much time between Saturday markets and there are not any Indian restaurants near our home, so it was time to make our own Chai recipe.

For 3 years I lived in Alaska and I swear I was frozen to the core on a record snowfall dark winter. I credit Chai for warming me up. I made a gallon pot of Chai tea every week for months. Inside it felt like a spring thaw and I emerged with normal body temperature. My hands and feet were no longer chronically cold and I wasn't the person always wearing an extra sweater. 

As an Asian Medicine practitioner, I also knew the spices used to make vegan chai had anti-viral qualities and their warming nature helped one have resistance to colds and flu. Whenever I felt a scratchy throat or that first lethargy of a cold, I'd make a pot of chai, and those telltale signs of a cold most often disappeared. (Think: perfect beverage for COVID prevention!)

Aside from the health benefits of drinking a vegan chai latte, this homemade chai is a balm to one's taste buds. 

Unlike the chai latte from a coffee shop or the dreaded sugar-saturated chai mix from the store, your own homemade vegan chai lattes can be as sweet as you like. You can even choose to add caffeinated black tea or not! 

Making your own vegan chai is not only simple, it's inexpensive. You can make a whole pot of chai (9 servings!) for the cost of a single chai latte from a coffee shop. 

If you're feeling like making a special tea time, try dipping our Vegan Ginger Cookies in this perfectly spicy, vegan, dairy-free chai latte.

Jump to Chai Latte, Vegan Style Grocery List

Jump to Chai Latte, Vegan Style Nutritional Analysis

Chai Latte, Vegan style Recipe

Prep

•  35 minutes prep
• Serves 9
• Suggested equipment: large pot with lid, stirring spoon, strainer

Ingredients

• 8 cups water
• 2 cinnamon sticks, we prefer Ceylon Cinnamon
• 20 green cardamom pods
• 10 black peppercorns
• 10 whole cloves
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 star anise
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger root
  
  
• 2 Tbsp Darjeeling Black Tea
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 ½ cups Edensoy Unsweetened Soy Milk

Instructions

1. Grind whole spices and ginger root in a blender or spice grinder.
2. In a large pot combine the water, spices and ginger root.
3. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a slow simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in 2 Tbsp Darjeeling black tea and soy milk. Cover and turn off the heat. Steep for 5 minutes.
5. Strain the spices and tea out through a fine mesh strainer.
6. Return the chai to the stovetop. Add ¼ cup of sugar and 1.5 cups of Edensoy Unsweetened Soy Milk, or more to taste. Bring to drinking temperature. 

How to make a Chai Latte:

1. In a small saucepan, heat up ¼ cup of soy milk. Just before boiling, pour it in your cup and use an Aerolatte milk frother to froth your soy milk.
2. Add chai to fill your cup. If you have a device to steam-froth your milk, you can use that!
3. Sprinkle a bit of ground cinnamon or sprinkle a half and half cinnamon-sugar mixture on top. Yum!

Chef's Notes 

We prefer Ceylon Cinnamon sticks because they’re sweeter with a smooth flavor. Regular cinnamon sticks are fine too.

Edensoy Unsweetened Soy Milk is different from all others. It’s the only soy milk we use. It tends to not curdle, it really is not sweet, and it’s higher in protein than other soy milk brands.

If you like a stronger chai, let the spices simmer longer or add more of them. Alter the sugar and milk levels too. Experiment to make it just the way you like.

We hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you have an article or recipe requests, let us know on our Facebook page: Your Vegan Family. While you're there, please like our page and share our posts!

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Written by Your Vegan Family 

Stacy and Markus live an adventurous vegan lifestyle and write articles about their experiences cooking global vegan cuisine, creating businesses, raising vegan kids, and traveling through more than 65 countries. They earned degrees in molecular biology and acupuncture, consulted over decades for healthcare companies and individuals, created businesses in Asian medicine, eco-tourism, cultural immersion, and taught yoga in myriad venues.

We’ve learned a lot from eating a plant-based diet for 25 years and are eager to share more with you. Learn more on our About Us page.

Chai Latte, Vegan Style Recipe Grocery List: 

• fresh ginger root
• cinnamon sticks (we prefer Ceylon)
• green cardamom pods
• black peppercorns
• whole cloves
• fenugreek seeds
• anise
• Darjeeling Black Tea 

Chai Latte, Vegan Style Recipe Nutritional Analysis

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutritional calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. When exact ingredients are not available in this database, the closest substitution is made. 

Percentages are based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet for an adult. 

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