People are passionate about their beverages. We want them flavorful, pretty, fresh, and inexpensive. We need them fast, in the biggest cup you’ve got, with our choice of milk, and a generous dash of whip. Remember those multicolored pastel drinks that were all the rage? What about freakshakes, the mother of all milkshakes, topped with every confection imaginable? People are having fun with their drinks, and we are on board. One of our favorite trends these days is the Dirty Chai Tea Latte. You can have all the warm, spicy flavors of chai without sacrificing the essential, revitalizing joy that is coffee. Basically, you can have your cake and eat it too. Bonus: you can make it at home!

Some of the best innovations come from necessity. We’ve all made those “I really need to go food shopping but I don’t feel like it” meals. You stare into your bare cabinets and try to figure out how you can work those pitiful, mismatched ingredients into something edible. There are entire cookbooks on the subject matter. Scarcity can turn anyone into an innovator.

The aromatic tea we know and love was born in tougher times. Masala Chai is a Hindi term that translates to “mixed-spice tea”. In the early 1900s, black tea was very expensive in India. Vendors used milk, sugar and spices to keep their brew flavorful while keeping costs down. To stimulate the sales of Indian tea, the British-owned Indian Tea Association encouraged big employers to offer tea breaks throughout the work day. They also encouraged chaiwalas, tea vendors, to sell their brew along the developing railway system.

Traditional Masala Chai used black tea, typically the local Assam or Ceylon, blended with real spices that varied based on region and availability. Chaiwalas became an important part of the culture and continue to exist all over India. They are one of the only consistent presences in a very diverse country, from lazy rural villages to busy cities streets. People from all walks of life flock to chaiwalas for a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of daily life. Over tea, you’ll see people congregate, night and day, discussing anything from politics to sports.

Masala Chai became popular in India, but it didn’t stop there. Over the pond it went, right to our local coffee shops and tea houses, in all its spicy, fragrant glory. Any trendy coffee shop will boast the “Best Dirty Chai,” but as DIY-ers, we subscribe to the philosophy that if you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself. A lot of cafes make their chai with a concentrated syrup or powder mix. This version fuses our own signature chai spices into the tea like the first chaiwalas. Those real ingredients add a richness and depth of flavor you can’t emulate with an artificial mix alone. You wouldn’t build a house with particle board. You have to go for the good stuff!

If you want the traditional Dirty Chai experience, brew up 2 shots of espresso – we love Godfather’s Italian Espresso for this drink. You can also strong brew any coffee of your choice. Typically, espresso drinks use a dark roast, but the beauty of doing it at home is that you get to choose. Your home will be filled with that sweet, spicy aroma in no time! Whether you’re brewing it by the cup or the pitcher, this decadent treat is as simple as it is tasty.

Give this recipe a try and let us know what you think in the comments below!

Ingredients

1-2 tbsp Spiced Chai tea

1/2 cup of water

1/3 cup of milk of your choice

1/2 cup of strong coffee or 2 shots espresso

2-3 tsp honey

1 drop vanilla extract

A dash of cinnamon

Directions:

1.) Prepare coffee or espresso

2.) Prepare chai by bringing water to boil, then pouring it over loose leaf tea in a tea strainer.  Let steep for 5-10 minutes. Remove tea bag/tea container from tea.

3.) Add honey and a drop of vanilla to chai tea, stir in well

4.) Prepare milk by either heating it up in a pot on the stove or use a wand to steam

5.) Add milk to chai

6.) Add strong brewed coffee or espresso and a dash of cinnamon

It might sound like there’s too much going on in this recipe, but there are only three ingredients in these simple popsicles. We came up with this idea to celebrate the return of summer and our Watermelon Mimosa Green Tea Blend, a flavored blend of Sencha and Jasmine green teas, blackberry leaves, and spearmint. Fresh watermelon juice adds color and sweetness without overpowering the green tea flavor.

Ingredients (makes 10 large popsicles)

1 small seedless watermelon (or about 2 1/2 cups of watermelon, cubed)

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups brewed Watermelon Mimosa Green Tea Blend

Instructions

Brew the tea using the standard steeping instructions (1 teaspoon per cup, brewed 2-3 minutes). Stir in the sugar while the tea is hot and let the mixture cool to room temperature. Blend the watermelon in a blender and pour through a mesh strainer. Add the strained watermelon juice to the tea and pour into popsicle molds. Set in the freezer for 1 1/2 hours, then insert the popsicle sticks. This will prevent the sticks from floating or moving in the mold. Freeze overnight or longer.

Does a dessert exist that isn’t improved by caramel? We recommend trying this recipe with apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, bundt cake, brownies, ice cream, or skip the vehicle and eat it alone. The original recipe for this caramel sauce calls for Darjeeling black tea, but any black tea would work. Spiced Chai or Earl Grey would make excellent variations. There are three main steps to making caramel sauce: making a cream mixture, caramelizing the sugar, then whisking it all together with the remaining ingredients while everything is still warm.

Ingredients

Sometimes when you can’t decide between two great things you should just try them together. The possibility of a new great thing is worth the risk that you will ruin them both. It’s a stuffy 89 degrees today and while a tall glass of iced tea sounds perfect, so does a margarita. Tea-ritas it is.

Tea-ritas are a thing, we did not invent them. There are many variations, and we tried a few before finding our favorite. Tea with a strong flavor stands up best to tequila, which is why we used English Breakfast black in our recipe, brewed strong. The result was a little like an Arnold Palmer with a kick, the black tea flavor perfect with the lime juice and Triple Sec.

Directions

Add 1 cup of strong black iced tea (we used Organic English Breakfast) to a cocktail shaker. Pour in 1 shot of silver tequila, 1 oz triple sec, 1 shot of  fresh lime juice, and 1/4 cup simple syrup or agave syrup. Shake it over ice and strain into a glass with a salted rim, if you like that sort of thing. Garnish with lime.

If you are a loose leaf tea fan, you probably know how to brew your favorite teas. If you don’t, we tried to make it simple on our Tattle Tea site by providing some general guidelines as well as specific brewing instructions for each tea, including amount of tea, ideal water temperature and steep time.

However, that’s per cup, hot. How does that translate to iced, especially if you’re used to throwing a bunch of teabags in a pitcher? Hot water brewing is an easy place to start. This method creates a concentrate that you can then pour over ice and can serve immediately.

Here’s our recipe for a half gallon of iced Orange Pekoe black tea.

What you’ll need:  

Large T-Sacs (we use two of the #4 size)

Two half gallon-sized containers (one should be suitable for hot liquids)

Measuring cup

Orange Pekoe loose leaf tea

1 quart water for boiling

Lots of ice

Directions

1. Fill two large T-Sacs with ½ cup of dry Orange Pekoe loose leaf black tea.

2. Boil a quart of water. We use the Ibis electric kettle.

3. Place the T-Sacs in a heat safe half gallon pitcher and add a quart of near boiling water.

4. Let it steep for 3 ½ minutes.

5. While your tea is steeping, take your second pitcher and fill it to the brim with ice.

6. When your time is up, remove the tea bags and pour your tea into the pitcher of ice slowly.

7. Once most of the ice has melted, add more ice until the pitcher is full again.

8. Pour, drink, enjoy.

Want to brew a smaller batch, or try another type of tea? The brewing instructions on our site and our packaging are for 8oz of hot tea. First, calculate how much tea you would need to brew your desired batch size normally, then double the quantity of tea. You will be pouring the hot tea over ice and adding more ice before serving, so to get the amount of hot liquid right, take your desired quantity and divide it by four. The math gets confusing to some, so just trust us on that.

One very important thing to remember: the steep time and water temperature is the same as for regular hot tea, regardless of strength desired or quantity of tea and water used. The best way to adjust the strength without getting a bitter cup is to adjust the ratio of tea to water, not the steep time.

If you want to try our whole leaf tea bags, English Breakfast tastes great iced. Use 13 bags for a half gallon, and the same steeping instructions.