Some make it without any actual tea and, unfortunately, one of the more commonly used chai syrups in coffee shops (e.g. starbucks) contains honey, which is no good for vegans!
Overall, it's better, not to mention nicer, to make it yourself. So this is how I make it...
(makes about 3 mugs-full, or 6 or so teacups)
Put three cups (i.e. mugs) of cold water in a saucepan and add lots of peeled and chopped fresh ginger, to your taste, as well as 2 sticks of cinnamon, a teaspoonful of cloves, up to 5 cardamom pods, 2-4 black peppercorns and 2 star anise stars. Then stir-in a tablespoon of agave nectar. You can use sugar, and i've used date syrup in the past too, but I find the slight warm honey-like taste of agave to work best here.
Multiply these ingredients as required for the amount you want to make, but keep the cardamom and star anise the same as these will start to make it taste all wrong in higher amounts!
Then just put it on a medium heat for about 10 mins or so. About 1-2 minutes before taking it off the heat, add 2 teabags of black tea (or 2 teaspoons of loose tea in a tea infuser).
Take out the large pieces (i.e. the cinnamon and star anise), then pour it through a sieve into a jug or individual cups. Then mix it in equal proportions with hot milk of your choice. If using soya, I'd recommend using 1/2 sweetened and 1/2 unsweetened.
It goes nicely with some kind of chocolatey treat, like yesterdays' Cake pops! mmmm....
Jen xx
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