Make Your Own Chai Tea Creamer

Is anybody else a fan of chai tea? Good, me too! Is anybody else NOT a fan of the high prices you pay for chai tea at places like Starbucks or Panera? Good, me too!

So what can frugal folks like us do if we want to make our own chai tea and save a few bucks? I played with some different options and was the most happy with this DIY Chai Tea Creamer idea.

Searching for Cheapskate Chai Tea

Before I made the creamer however, I tried a few other strategies. First I tried simply using chai flavored tea bags. But they were a bit wimpy and I missed the milk and sugar component that’s traditional with a good chai tea. Adding milk and sugar seemed to dilute the little bit of chai flavor even more.

Going in search of scratch recipes brought me to the realization that a really authentic chai tea starts with whole ingredients like cardamom pods and anise stars. I couldn’t find those ingredients at my local store so I crossed that strategy off my list.

What next? I had high hopes for a homemade powdered chai tea mix recipe that I’ve come across several times and mixed up a trial version making a few of my own tweaks. The mix had good flavor but the ground spices in the mix immediately floated to the top of a cup of tea and just kept swirling around. I didn’t like that very much.

I then tried infusing half & half with chai tea bags. Blech. I tried making my own chai tea bags with ground spices. Blech. (but at least I learned how to make my own tea bags!)

So . . . was there any recipe that worked? My best solution so far has been a recipe for a homemade chai tea creamer that uses a base of sweetened condensed milk  with ground spices stirred in. This gives you the sweetness, the milkiness, and the spice flavors that you want to enjoy in a good cup of chai tea.

This creamer mix still has a little bit of the ground spice “floaties” on the top of a cup of tea, but not nearly as much as the powdered mixture did.  So it’s something I can live with to get a homemade cup of yummy chai goodness!

The spices that are added to the sweetened condensed milk are cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger. Once those are all mixed in to the milk, it’s best to let the mixture rest in the refrigerator for a day to let the spices totally infuse into the milk.

To use, put a spoonful of the chai tea creamer into a cup of tea and stir. This can be used to flavor a cup of coffee too. This creamer will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks and you’ll have to stir the mixture again each time before using.

So if you’re also a fan of the chai flavors, you might find this to be a handy homemade strategy to try too!