Homemade Chai Latté

Save yourself $4 next time and, instead, invite your friend over for meaningful conversation over your homemade Chai Lattés.

Where I come from, the words chai and tea are redundant. They mean the same thing in several Indian languages. But when the western world speaks of chai tea, people are talking about a deliciously hot tea drink that is steeped with spices and served mixed with milk, simmered to spicy goodness. Here's my version of how to make Chai Lattés it at home with just a few pantry staple ingredients, (and you don't need a fancy steaming machine to do this):

Homemade Chai Latté

You will need:

1 cup milk

1 cup water

1 2" strip orange peel

3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick

2 or 3 black peppercorns

1 pinch nutmeg

2 teaspoons sugar (or more if you like)

2 teaspoons black tea leaves

Combine the milk and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. When warmed, add the orange peel, cloves, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, nutmeg, sugar and tea leaves into the pan.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the color deepens to your liking - mine takes about 2-3 minutes. Strain, and pour into teacups. Enjoy!