Chai recipe

So I'm sitting here sipping some chai and thought I'd might as well share the recipe I'm using.

Chai is spiced tea of Indian origin and one of my favourite beverages, next to coffee.

There's dozens and dozens of ways to make chai, but this is the recipe that I used to make the chai that I'm drinking right now.

This isn't meant to be a strict recipe, I like to vary the recipe depending on my mood, but the general recipe is...

Ingredients for 2 cups

2 cups of water
8 cloves
8 cardamon pods
1/2 to 1 cinnamon stick/quill
4 to 8 black peppercorns
4 tsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
2-3 teabags of good quality, strong black tea

Instructions

1. Add the water and spices to a saucepan and bring to boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Add sugar and milk and bring to boil then turn off heat.
3. Add the teabags to the spiced, milky water and steep for 3 minutes.
4. Strain, serve immediately and enjoy.

Notes
- Add two pea sized mashed up ginger pieces to water with other spices if you have fresh ginger (I didn't, so I omitted it but it does taste nicer with ginger).
- Sweetness of chai is up to the drinker. If you like it sweeter, use more sugar, if you like is less sweet, use less sugar. Same thing goes with milk (I'm partially lactose intolerant so I don't use much milk in my chai, but it does taste nicer with more milk).
- You can substitute sugar with honey and milk with soy milk (for the veg's).
- I've been told that this is masala chai.
- About chai @ Wikipedia