Chai Tea Mix is a unique homemade food gift for those who love Chai Tea! Use the mix to whip up everything from lattes to milkshakes, and include a free printable tag with directions for gift giving!
Some of my other favorite homemade food gifts for the holidays are Gingerbread Granola, {5-Minute, 5-Ingredient Caramel Sauce}, and White Chocolate Peppermint Puppy Chow/Muddy Buddies!
So 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, granola, flavored coffee syrup, Pretzel Turtles, and even savory Marinated Cheese & Olives. But this year, I thought it would be fun to put together a little treat for the chai lovers in my life...Chai Tea Mix!
How to Enjoy Chai Tea Mix
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. 😉
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 almost instantly...without the hassle (or cost) of a trip to Starbucks!
How to Make It
This mix is so easy to put together that my toddler helped me assemble it. In fact, it only took a few minutes from start to finish...as long as you exclude the time it took me to clean up the broken spice bottle of ginger. My daughter often acts about 12 years old, which is why I sometimes forget that she's still 2 and not to be trusted with glass receptacles quite yet. 😉
Anyway, after (unsuccessfully) stacking the spice bottles, she helped press the button on the food processor to quickly incorporate the mixture of instant tea, powdered milk, powdered creamers, and spices. 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.
Perfect for Gift Giving
You might choose to make a batch of Chai Tea Mix to enjoy all to yourself. But 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 directions. I shared it the other day 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! A super easy, super yummy drink mix that's currently all the rage. 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
- Nutter Butter Christmas Cupcake Toppers
- Christmas Tree Brownie Pops
- Cran-Raspberry Jezebel Sauce
- Candy Cane Kiss Brownie Bites
Chai Tea Mix
Ingredients
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom, optional
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened instant tea, regular or decaf, a powdered mix that's sometimes called "unsweetened iced tea"
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 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 Use Chai Tea Mix:
- Stir 2 heaping tablespoons of mix into a mug of hot milk or boiling water.
Notes
Adapted from Southern Living Ultimate Christmas Cookbook
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!
Post originally published on December 14, 2014
Joyce
Hi! I am trying to calculate how much to make, to yield 3 gift jars. With 12 servings, the recipe should be about 24 tablespoons since the instructions say use 2 TB per drink. However, when I add all the ingredient amounts together, the total is 102 tablespoons (6.4 cups)! What do you think is the correct amount? Thanks!
Samantha Skaggs
Hi Joyce! I'm so sorry about those confusing numbers...there was apparently an error when this post was converted over to a new type of recipe card in recent months. I appreciate you letting me know about it! I just corrected everything, so the yield should be correct now, and I added a note at the bottom clarifying how many gifts you can get out of a batch of this mix. Hope that helps!
Ann
I love this mix. I used it to make Christmas gifts for all my friends. It was very popular. Thanks for the recipe.
Erin
Has anyone tried to make this an iced chai?
Hannah Flack
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!
Greta
I would love to know this also. I am wondering if I leave the powdered milk out and then make the tea and add unsweetened vanilla almond milk if this would work also?
Rose Martine
You are AMAZING! Thank you thank you thank you so much for this. I was considering doing the same thing and you’ve just made the task a lot less daunting.
Kris
Hey, this is an amazing recipe thanks so much. But... the 53kcal means 53000 calories. Is that d for the entire recipe?
Samantha Skaggs
Hi Kris! I know it's confusing, but a "kcal" is a regular calorie when it comes to food. From nutrition.gov:
What is the difference between calories and kilocalories?
The "calorie" we refer to in food is actually kilocalorie. One (1) kilocalorie is the same as one (1) Calorie (upper case C). A kilocalorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water one degree Celsius.
Hope that helps! 🙂
Becky
Delicious
Ellyn
My family loves this chai latte mix and each child received a quart jar of mix for Christmas. I use decaf tea and increase that by 1/2 cup in the recipe. I decreased sugar by 1/2 cup. I use regular creamer and add my own vanilla powder. I follow your spice amounts, only adding a little extra of my favorites. I’ve recently found powdered whole milk (Hispanic foods section) and use half that and half nonfat. I make this in the food processor and it’s always perfect. Just made my 3rd or 4th batch. An excellent recipe as is, but so easy to adjust to ones taste. Thank you!
DEllis
What is your own vanilla powder? I’m not a fan of that French vanilla powdered creamer...TIA..
Dee
Do you think espresso powder could be added to this recipe to make it a dirty chai tea?
Thanks!
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Hi Dee! I don't see why that wouldn't work! I don't have a recommendation for how much espresso powder to use, as I haven't made dirty chai tea myself, but I hope it turns out great if you decide to give it a try. 🙂
Shawntina
Wonderful flavor! I lessened the Cardomom and Cloves both to 1/2 teaspoon. I’d love to use the printable tags, but there is a spelling error on the last word “blender”. Can you update the tags with correct spelling? Thank you so much for a great recipe!
Julie
You were right about the Smell of Chai potpourri, it had me with a smile for quite a while...I love it! I just made this yesterday but haven’t tried it yet. I love the idea of gifting it for the holidays. Thanks for that and for sharing this wonderful recipe and labels with us. Can’t wait to try it!
Courtenay
Hi! Do you think it would be okay with double creamer instead of powdered milk? I want to make it for someone who is lactose intolerant and alternative milk powders are so expensive. Thank you!
Samantha at Five Heart Home
It would just be extra creamy with double creamer, Courtenay! 😉
DJ
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?
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Hi DJ! I've only made this recipe as directed, but you could definitely try experimenting with your favorite alternative sweeteners. 🙂
Janelle
I use coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar and it’s good .
Stephanie
Use Truvia, they make a larger bag for baking, and use half as much since it is twice as sweet as sugar.
Colleen
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???
Samantha at Five Heart Home
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!
Stephanie
Did you use unsweetened tea with lemon?
Kennedy Taylor
Where can you buy the instant tea powder?
Joni
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!
Samantha at Five Heart Home
Sounds like a yummy substitute, Joni...thanks for sharing! 🙂
Kristin
We love this chai tea and want to give it as gifts, but I'm having trouble printing the gift tags...the print is too faint. I've tried making it as dark as I can on my printer and even tried printing green paper, but still wayy to light, especially the siilver writing. Can you send the Word format so I can print in black or darker ink?
Samantha at Five Heart Home
I'm so sorry, Kristin...I designed this printable in Photoshop and there's no way for me to change the colors without starting over the whole thing from scratch. I'm not sure why it's printing so faint for you as others have not reported a problem with the color. At any rate, I apologize that I can't make it darker for you!
Melissa
Excellent recipe. Tastes like coffee shop chi tea. I put a little less sugar.. 1/2 cup less...and seems perfectly sweet enough.