Our Guide to Making Cold Brew Chai Concentrate
Cold brew has gained popularity in recent years. If you look online or on Pinterest for a cold brew recipe, you will find many options, which can be overwhelming! At Hackberry Tea, we enjoy experimenting with trending and creative drinks and trying out various recipes. When you consider all the different combinations of ingredients and brewing methods, the possibilities are endless. While developing recipes for our coffee and tea shop, we experimented with creating a delicious Chai concentrate for our iced chai options. We found that making a delicious Chai concentrate using just two simple ingredients, water and loose-leaf chai tea, is incredibly easy. We chose to use our Warm Vanilla Chai and followed the same process used for cold brew.
A Chai concentrate should be strong. To make it, simply mix the tea leaves in water, let them sit overnight in the refrigerator, and then strain the leaves through a colander. Depending on the amount of concentrate you want to make, you can combine the water and loose tea in a mason jar, French press, Toddy, or recycled milk jugs. Put the concentrate back in the refrigerator and let it steep over night or as long as two days, then prepare a glass whenever you like. Once you have the concentrate, just mix one part tea and one part water or dairy to dilute it. If you like it sweet, add a sweetener like sweetened condensed milk, liquid sugar, honey, or vanilla syrup. If you enjoy the taste of espresso and want the caffeine kick, add a shot (or two) or one part drip coffee. The options are endless! It's really that easy to make a Chai concentrate for a refreshing iced Chai beverage.
Here's a suggested ratio for making your concentrate: 4 teaspoons of tea leaves to 1 cup of water. If you prefer a stronger flavor, you can simply add more tea. Ultimately, it's all about making it the way you like it. Next time you're in the mood for a sweet and spicy treat, give this new way of making iced chai a try!
