Chai Tea Mix (Homemade Food Gift with FREE Gift Tags!)
Chai Tea Mix is a delicious pantry staple or a unique homemade food gift for those who love chai tea! Use the mix to whip up everything from a chai tea latte to a vanilla chai tea milkshake, or put it in a jar with the free printable tag of directions for gift giving!
If you enjoy warm drinks, you'll also love Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer, Crock Pot Hot Chocolate, and Dairy-Free Almond Cashew Coffee!
Raise your hand if you like to make homemade food gifts for friends and neighbors during the holidays or throughout the year? (I do! I do!) However, as much as I enjoy baking and sharing Christmas cookies and quick breads, there's something I especially enjoy about food gifts that can be packaged up in a jar. In that past, I've made big holiday batches of candied nuts, flavored coffee syrup, caramel sauce, and even savory Marinated Cheese & Olives. But one of my most popular food gift ideas is a treat for the chai tea latte lovers in my life...Chai Tea Mix!
What Is Chai Tea?
For those of you unfamiliar with the wonders of chai, the American version of this Indian-inspired drink typically combines black tea, aromatic spices, and milk. The resulting beverage is a lightly sweet, warmly spiced, creamy blend of tea and milk.
And today's Chai Tea Mix recipe gives you the satisfaction of drinking chai tea almost instantly...without the hassle (or cost) of a trip to Starbucks!
Chai Tea Ingredients
- Unsweetened instant tea. This powdered mix is sometimes labeled "unsweetened iced tea." You can opt for regular or decaf.
- Nonfat dry milk powder + powdered non-dairy creamer. To give this chai tea recipe its creamy consistency.
- French vanilla-flavored powdered non-dairy creamer. For a subtle vanilla chai tea undertone. However, if you prefer your chai tea latte with no vanilla flavor, you may omit the vanilla powdered creamer and increase the plain powdered creamer to 2 cups.
- Sugar. Because it's not possible to make a Starbucks copycat at home without some sweetness. 😉
- Chai tea spices. Specifically, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and black pepper.
How to Make Chai Tea Mix
This Chai Tea Mix is incredibly quick and easy to put together. In fact, it's as simple as mixing everything together!
That being said, I highly recommend using a large food processor or blender to do so. Pulsing the chai tea ingredients together in a blender or food processor ensures that the final Chai Tea Mix will be a well-combined, homogenous, chai tea powder that will dissolve quickly.
If your blender or food processor isn't large enough to hold all of the ingredients at once, you can first whisk everything together in a large bowl and then transfer the mixture to the blender/food processor in batches for pulsing into a fine powder.
Let me just warn you that blending this mix will make your house smell like chai potpourri for the rest of the day! But that's not at all a bad thing. 🙂
How to Make a Chai Tea Latte...and More!
Chai Tea Mix is a unique, versatile, powdered drink mix that can be stirred into warm milk for a homemade Chai Tea Latte.
Or you can chill it and serve over ice for an Iced Chai Tea Latte.
Or you can add some finely chopped semisweet or white chocolate to turn it into a Chocolate (or White Chocolate) Chai Tea Latte.
And you can even blend with vanilla ice cream for a Chai Tea Shake!
See what I mean? Versatile. 🙂
Perfect for Gift Giving
You might choose to make a batch of Chai Tea Mix to enjoy all to yourself. And there's nothing wrong with that!
However, if you plan on using it for gift giving, I've created some printable gift tags with directions for how to make various drinks using this mix. Simply scroll down past the recipe at the bottom of this post to download and print the tags!
There's also a coordinating Christmas or holiday gift tag that you can layer on top of the Chai Tea Mix directions. I shared it previously in a Cinnamon Bread post, so click over to find that "Wishing You a Sweet Christmas" or "Wishing You a Sweet Holiday Season" printable HERE!
And that's it! This super easy, super yummy drink mix is your make-at-home secret to enjoying scrumptious chai tea lattes and more!
Not only would this make a fun, unique, homemade food gift this holiday season, but it just might become your new drink-o-choice on a cold winter's day. 🙂
More Holiday Food Gifts
- Candied Cashews
- Candy Cane Kiss Brownie Bites
- Pecan Praline Bread
- Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Reindeer Rice Krispie Treats
- Soft Chewy Ginger Cookies
- Christmas Tree Sheet Cake
- Christmas Puppy Chow (AKA, White Chocolate Peppermint Muddy Buddies)
Chai Tea Mix (Homemade Food Gift with FREE Gift Tags!)
Ingredients
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom, optional
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened instant tea, regular or decaf (this powdered mix is sometimes called "unsweetened iced tea")
- 1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
- 1 cup powdered nondairy creamer
- 1 cup French vanilla-flavored powdered nondairy creamer
Instructions
To Make Chai Tea Mix:
- Measure all dry ingredients into a blender or food processor. Pulse or puree until well-combined and mixture becomes a fine powder. Transfer to an air-tight jar or container or spoon into gift jars.
To Make a Chai Tea Latte:
- Stir 2 heaping tablespoons of Chai Tea Mix into a mug of hot milk or boiling water.
- Chill and serve over ice for an Iced Chai Tea Latte.
To Make a Chocolate (or White Chocolate) Chai Tea Latte:
- Make a Chai Tea Latte with milk, as directed above. Stir in 2 teaspoons of finely chopped semisweet or white chocolate until melted.
To Make a Chai Tea Shake:
- Blend ½ cup milk, 1 ¾ cups vanilla ice cream, and 2 tablespoons Chai Tea Mix in a blender until smooth.
Equipment Needed
Video
Notes
- Since this recipe yields a little over 6 cups of mix total, you can divide it into your chosen size of jars or receptacles for gifting. For example, if you're using Mason jars, you can fill six 8-ounce jars or 3 pint jars.
Nutrition
To download Printable Chai Tea Mix Directions Tags <<< click here!
These tags print four to a page. Print on cardstock for heavier tags, cut out, and punch a hole at the top. Please be patient if these take a moment to load. For personal use only, please. Enjoy!
Adapted from Southern Living Ultimate Christmas Cookbook.
Post originally published on December 14, 2014, and updated on December 5, 2020, and November 30, 2023.
Was doing a search for instant chai tea mix and found this. Looks good but I am looking for a low to sugar free version.
Any suggestions on how to tweak it to meet this need?
Hi DJ! I've only made this recipe as directed, but you could definitely try experimenting with your favorite alternative sweeteners. 🙂
I use coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar and it’s good .
Use Truvia, they make a larger bag for baking, and use half as much since it is twice as sweet as sugar.
Hi Samantha! I just made your recipe and it looks great but when I made a cup of it with hot water...it curdled! Any reasons way???
Wow, Colleen...I've never heard of that happening! I can only imagine that it has to do with the freshness of a particular ingredient you used? But I'm really not sure. Sorry I can't be of more help!
Did you use unsweetened tea with lemon?
Where can you buy the instant tea powder?
Didn’t have any cloves or nutmeg so I added 2 tsp. Pumpkin pie spice. I LOVE THIS !!!!!! Thank you so much for posting it!
Sounds like a yummy substitute, Joni...thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thank you for making my Christmas just a tad easier this year. I found your chai tea recipe and it has been such a help. We have an "adopted" family from Bangladesh and have served as American mom and dad - and now grandma and grandpa to their 4 children. When we go to their house for our annual "Curry Chrismas", I never know how many other family members, friends, new immigrants, etc will end up being there, too. Of course, they all LOVE cha (as they call it). I made a double batch and filled 10 jelly jars. Now I will have a "little something" for each family that comes. The face that you provide the cute labels for FREE! is just frosting on the cake. I will be bookmarking your site and checking it for other occasions. Again, thanks so much. And by the way - the tea is DELICIOUS!
Thanks for the sweet comment, Jan! I'm so happy this recipe is helping you spread a little joy this Christmas. 🙂
So I am seeing that it is the instant tea mix, is that regular tea or black tea? Just want to make sure I get the right one, Thank you
Recipe looks amazing.
Hi Heather! I believe most instant tea is made from black tea. So whether it's labeled "regular" or "black tea," it should work. 🙂 I would just avoid instant green tea, white tea, etc.
Could I use powdered milk in place of the powdered dairy creamers? I don't like all the chemicals that make up the powdered creamers. I could add vanilla when I make a cup of tea.
Hi Samantha! That's a great question...it's actually on my to-do list to rework this recipe using all-natural ingredients. 🙂 Anyway, I haven't tried it myself, but I bet your idea would work. Your tea may just be slightly more watery/less creamy using only powdered milk. And you may need to increase the sugar a bit to make up for the sweetness that would be missing from the powdered creamers...or you could do so to taste when you make a cup of tea (and add the vanilla). I'd probably try tweaking this recipe with a much smaller batch to make sure things turn out to your liking before you make a whole bunch. 😉 Hope that helps, and hope it works out!
Why do I need to put it in a food processor or blender ? Can i just mix it in a large bowl or sift it
Hi Tracy! You could probably mix or sift these ingredients and everything would turn out just fine. However, I recommend using a food processor or blender since the various ingredients have different sized granules. Processing or blending it all together will not only combine everything, but doing so will also reduce the mixture to a fine powder that dissolves nicely when added to hot milk or water. Hope you enjoy either way!
I just made this chai tea mix and it was delicious! I made some for myself and some for a Christmas gift. I used a blender instead of a food processer, adding one cup of mix at a time. It worked perfectly.
The tags are great too! Thanks so much for sharing!
You're so welcome, Kristin! I'm very happy to hear that you enjoy the chai tea mix and will be giving it as gifts. Merry Christmas! 🙂
Just a quick question, and I apologize if it's already been asked, but is the instant tea the same as instant ICED tea mix?
Thanks!
Great question, Christine! And you are correct...unsweetened instant tea is referring to the iced tea mix. 🙂
I LOVE YOU!!!!! Thank you so much!!! My daughter gives a gift to ALL the teachers at school and the lunch workers and custodians... it gets espensive and many of them like different things. I think I will add this to the mix!!! This is my absolut FAVORITE drink in the world!!! thanks for pinning this! I will add it to my hidden treat stash!!
I'm so happy to hear that you're going to use this mix as a gift this holiday season, Kimmie! You are sweet to remember all of your daughter's teachers, lunch workers and custodians...I'm sure they appreciate your thoughtfulness and I hope they love this gift! 🙂
Hello! I love chai tea and I want to use your recipe but there is one problem.. I am allergic to Cow Milk. So what can I use instead for the milk powder? 🙂
Hi Evine! Hmmmm...I'm not sure. I just did a quick Google search and it looks like there are dairy-free powdered milk options available, like soy milk powder, rice milk powder, and almond milk powder. That being said, I'm not sure how easy those are to find or how they would affect the ultimate flavor of the Chai Tea. Good luck if you decide to experiment and, if so, please come back and let us know how things turn out! 🙂
Yum! My husband would love this! What a great gift idea, and I'm so glad to find you at the Weekend Retreat Limkup.
I'm so glad you hopped over, Meredith! I hope your husband enjoys this if you have a chance to make it for him. 🙂 Have a wonderful week!
This looks so yummy! I love Chai tea.
Thanks, Heidi! I hope you enjoy it if you have a chance to try it. I appreciate you stopping by! 🙂
Thank you so much - I cant wait to make this and print up those adorable tags!
You're so welcome, Danielle! I'm glad you're going to make these as gifts...hope they're a hit! 🙂
Yum, this sounds SO delicious! I've never made my own chai before, but this looks so easy. Such a cute gift, too! Who doesn't love chai?! 🙂 Pinned!
Thank you, Amanda! You're right...it's totally easy to put together and makes a great gift. 😉 I appreciate the comment and pin...hope you're having a great week!
I love Chai Tea and am really excited to try this receipe. The variations you mentioned also sound great. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for the sweet comment, Amanda! I hope you enjoy this if you have a chance to try it. 🙂
You really did a most excellent job. What a fine recipe. It really is Chai and not some watered down mixture. I am impressed. I also really liked the eggnog pudding.
Thanks so much, Carol! Drinks made with this mix do turn out pretty Chai-like, for those who like Chai. 😉 Hope you're having a wonderful December! I just realized that I owe you a return e-mail. Sorry...sometimes my inbox gets the best of me! 😛