Chai is my current favorite and here's a great place to get some recipes: http://www.greywolf.com/chai/recipes.html Here's one such recipe: SPICY INDIAN TEA (Masala=spice Chai=tea) Ingredients 3 - 4 Tea Spoons/4 Teabags of good tea (Darjeeling/Orange Pekoke/Lipton) A chunk of dry ginger (or fresh ginger if dry isn't handy) 3 - 4 cardmom pods, crushed (See Note below) 3 Cloves Small piece of cinnamon A Tsp of SOANP (I don't know the name. Can be found at Indian grocers. Also indian restaurants keep this for your pleasure after dinner Looks like cummin seeds) 1 or 2 whole black peppers (optional) Sugar to taste Milk (atleast Vitamin D, low fat won't do) Bring 2 cups of water to boil (microwave or otherwise) Add all the ingredients and boil again for about 15 seconds. Let stand for a minute. Warm milk in a pot. Filter tea into cups. Add milk and sugar. That's IT. Note: Since cardmom is expensive, I peel them and add the skin to my stock of tea leaves. This gives a distinct aroma. Of course you boil the skin with water. If you don't like to spend much time, mix all the spices and coarsley grind them. Boil water and add tea and a tsp of this ground spices. Rest is as above. ENJOY Kayshav -- dattatri@metaphor.com

And another: From: Yogesh Maheshwari Date: Tue, 29 Sep 92 15:51:58 MDT Hi Well read your message soc.culture.indian Well these are the steps to make chai for making a cup of chai 1. take half cup of water in an utensil 2. put spoonful of tea leaves, crushed ginger and sugar as needed and optionally crushed cardamom into the water 3. boil the mixture for about 3-4 minute based upon how strong chai u need 4. pour half cup of milk into it 5. again boil for a few minutes 6. filter it into a cup or glass well u can now enjoy ur cup of ginger chai happy tea makings bye Yogesh

And yet another from Brian Sroka: Whenever I have attempted to make chai, the proportions are guesswork. So here are the ingredients (and guesswork): 1 part crushed and shelled cardamom 1 part crushed cimmamon sticks 1/2 part crushed cloves (careful too much or it will dominate the flavor) 1 part crushed and skinned ginger Add all ingredients to water and boil. Use this water (strained) for the tea, usually darjeeling. The tea is intended to be served with milk and sugar.

And if you're a real chai perfectionist: From: Krishnan Seetharaman Organization: University of Massachusetts at Lowell Computer Science Ha, my favourite drink, and topic! How to make the perfect chai and then sip (note sip, not drink!) it in peace. The Perfect Chai: - For each cup, of chai u need about 4/5 th cup of water, u are going to lose some water in evaporation etc.. and u are going to add milk for the rest. This measure can be changed to suit your proportion of tea+milk. - Boil the water and then pour it into the tea pot. Now ad the tea leaves, I use about 1 teaspoon/cup. - Now close the pot, and if u want to preserve the heat, close it with a sort of insulating cap u get for the pot. - Now heat some milk separately. - The cups can be pre-heated by rinsing with hot water. - After the tea has brewed for 7-10 minutes, pour the tea into the cups through a strainer, add milk + sugar. - Enjoy. Modified Chai (doesn't need pot etc..) - Boil the water in a regular vessel - Turn off the gas, add chai and close the vessel with a plate so that the steam stays in - Other steps are same Ginger+Ilaichi chai : - Cut some pieces of ginger, crush them with a spoon. Add it to the water when u boil it. U can also add Ilaichi (cardamom ) to add flavor. U can try various types of tea. The best is got by mixing the so called dust tea and leaf tea. Dust adds strength, while leaf gives a distinctive flavor to it. Try Darjeeling tea, its great. And remember tea should never be boiled, it should be brewed.

From: aa355@torfree.net (Vinay Gupta) Subject: Re: How to Use Tea Masala? Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 03:21:26 GMT Kathleen Gruver (gruverk1@ix.netcom.com) wrote: : I have a packet of tea masala (spice mixture, presumably for mixing : with tea) that I purchased recently in an Indian foods store. How do I : use this? Do I mix it with loose tea when the tea is brewed? Mix it : with already brewed tea? Proportions? Help! It smells delicious, if : only I could figure out how to use it. Kathleen, According to my mom, here are the two ways to make masala chai: The first way results in a mixture that is slightly thick and sweet. This probably the more traditional way of making this tea in India. Here goes... Add the spice mixture to the water and heat. When the water boils, add the tea and a little later add sugar and milk. She suggests generous amounts of tea, milk and sugar, but I suspect you might want to vary the quantity according to your taste. Let the mixture stand for half a minute or so and remove from heat. The other method is to let the water/spice mixture boil and add the tea after removing from heat. Cover the saucepan (oops, I guess I forgot to mention that in India, tea is usually made in a saucepan and then drained) and allow the tea to brew for a few minutes. Then add the milk and sugar. The spices most commonly used in masala chai are - cardamom, cloves, cinnamon & black pepper (whole), in case you're interested in starting from scratch. Otherwise the Celestion Seasonings Bengal Spice herbal tea bags when mixed with any regular tea makes a fairly good cup of masala chai. Hope this helps... Vinay -- -- Vinay Gupta aa355@freenet.toronto.on.ca Toronto, Canada vgupta@trincoll.edu Check out my home page at... http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~vgupta

I like the flavor of green tea, and earl grey, but I must confess that I enjoy drinking the tea much more than I enjot making it.

Me too! That's why they come in those nice little bags. :-)

And all that nice powder in the jar.

I can't deal with loose tea. Or coffee beans.

Oh Wow!!! you don't know what you are missing. Ever coat coffee beans with chocolate and eat them?

They are so yummy! Of course, I only eat the decaf ones.

I do too. I used to be addicted to caffeine, now I am very sensitive to it. I tried a regular espresso bean that way and nearly went into orbit.

Oh foul!

You mean that you never had chocolate covered coffee beans,Riette?

NNNNOOOO! I do not like coffee - it's bitter, and yuksies! The idea of chocolate coffee beans shakes my very soul!

No coffee at work today. Austin's water main broker and our city water may be contaminated. Must be like this all over town today.

Riette, the bitter of the coffee bean sets off the sweetness of the chocolate. You will have to try them.

Terry, no wonder George could only find BROWN shrimps!! How did the water get contaminated? Fine, Tim, I'll try your coffee beans when I'm over. Now we just have to find out what I like, and you think you don't, and then you'll have to try that when I try the coffee beans.

O K It's a deal!

So, tell me all the things you don't like. How about cheese and maple syrup sandwiches?

That's great Riette. With anchovies, green olives, and jalapenos? On raisin bread? Actually with the cheese and maple syrup combo, I'd prefer it on top of a large slice of hot apple pie, with vanilla ice cream on top, capped off with butterscotch topping and a cherry. If you are looking for food I dislike you have a long search ahead of you. I'm not particularly fond of mutton. I don't dislike it. Just not fond of it.

No, neither am I. So let's skip that one. Please say you hate toasted marshmellows with condensed milk! I would love to change your mind while eating that!

Let's try that. I've never had it, and we can do it the night of the BBQ.

You've never had it? Great! Toasted marshmellows with condensed milk to the sound of Vanilla Ice! Baby!

OH YEAH!! Riette, I am looking forward to it.

Me too. I am starting to view my trip to America as a week-long tutorial; but I'm not sure who's going to turn out the mentor/student...

Riette, I'm thinking that It will definitely work both ways. I look forward to the learning the most though.

I'm not so sure anymore that you have anything to learn though....I didn't know ANYBODY could embarrass me so!!

Riette, that wasn't intentional. These things happen. I hope I haven't scared you from calling.

I didn't say I didn't like it. It was an experience QUITE out of the ordinary!

I hope so, Riette, I would hate to think of myself as ordinary.

I would hate for you to think of yourself as ordinary too. I don't think of you as ordinary without the 'extra'.

Thank you, Riette, I appreciate that. I'm not sure that I deserve it, But I appreciate it anyway.

�Big smile� Do you drink tea?

Yes, Riette, as amatter of fact, I do drink tea.

And you know what kind of exotic tea you're going to have when I ..... AM in Austin next year. (You can stop grinning right now, because I WILL not use that wicked word again!!!)

OK Riette , You got me again.

You're just waiting for me to say it again, aren't you!

I never tire of this , Riette.

I've noticed! You're such a devil - does your mum know you're like this??

Im sure she does, Riette, not much gets past her.

And she lets you get away with it too?!?!

My mother gave up on trying to directly control me when I was 22. Which was about 4 years late as far as I was concerned.

ha-ha! She probably only gave up because you got taller than her! I think she should STILL be smacking your buttocks, 'cos you need it, young man!

Actually It was because I could outrun her. I would not dare raise a hand to my mother.

(backing up a bit in here...) Chai, a mix of black tea, cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, milk and honey, is growing in popularity. Sales have grown from less than $2 million in '94 to $11 million in '97. Much of it is served in coffee houses and restaurants and is made from a concentrate that comes in milk carton-like containers.

and, from the Dec 98 issue of FOOD ARTS Nirvana By The Sip Chai tea latte emerged as the coming contender in the hot drink wars, with both the Starbucks megachain and the small Oregon Chai promoting the spiced tea drink sweetened with honey and blended with steamed milk. Oregon Chai boasted its sales had risen 1,300 percent since its 1995 beginning.

Where can it be found in Austin?

Terry will have to help you with that one as he's the chai afficianado amongst us...

whole foods has it loose you can get it at many of the gazillion coffee houses in town... Are you a Wheatsville Co-op member? I think they have it too (on Guadalupe just south (or is it north) of 29th street

Thank you, Stacey.

Central Market also sells it pre-bottled, but I was hoping someone like Terry or Stace would know where some really good was being served since I've never had it, and wouldn't want to recommend an icky product to a first-timer...

Any pre-bottled water from Hawaii (preferably from the Island of Hawaii) is the best in the world, and second place goes to Penn State's from the limestone natural filtration of Nittany Valley. Just a totally objective report was what you wanted, was it not? Make tea with either of these and bottle your own. It is the only way to get really great tea out of a bottle!

*S i g h* I was the last one to post here. Must be a slow hapa-year or I poisoned the topic or sumthin... I know where water is not fit to drink even with your nose held and that is in Southern California and Philadelphia, for two instances...

Add the entire Chesapeake Bay region to that list, Marcia... West Virginia has the best water I've ever tasted straight from the tap.

My son was born in West Virginia and they do, indeed have great water, except in the soft coal regions. Yyup! I remember Chesapeake water. Does it still stain your porcelain bathroom and kitchen fixtures? That is nasty stuff, indeed!

Where my sister lives she won't even have a washer/dryer. Why stain your clothes by washing them?? Mine is so chlorinated I couldn't drink it without my Brita filter.

Sheesh! It is tea-colored right out of the tap! Poor dear...I remember!

Fairbanks' water is orange. There are times when you can't even take a bath becaus it is so red and it is thick.

Heavens! Orange AND thick?! Yak!!! And our water comes directly from God to the tap (with a little metering by the Department of Water Supply to whom I write the checks to pay for it..) It IS wonderful water and very soft. It is not something we do not appreciate, having lived where it was not as good.