lots of chai

When I go to Washington, I always vist the food co-ops.  I like them.  I have always liked them.  When I was doing shopping pre-Thanksgiving I found a chai tea I wished to try.  I forgot how much I like chai.  I like the taste.  I like how it warms me.  I like that because it is so full of flavor it can take the place of a sweet.

I have always been picky about chai.  Even before many of the chain coffee shops carried it, I drank it.  One of the ingredients I find I like in chai is astragulas.  For some reasons, chai with that spice/herb in it I seem to always like.  I really like Zen Dog Studio's Dragon Breath Chai and Morning Glory Chai.  It gets costly buying these though.  Especially if I am feeling the need for comfort.

I went down to Phoenica and bought spices.  I ordered a few on-line.  I got all the spices and herbs from the labels and went for similar quantities, not weights.  The list is:

Honeybush

Cinnamon

Cardamom pods

Ginger

Star Anise

Astragulus

Clove

Fennel

Orange peel.

I went a bit heavy on the orange peel and the ginger.  The tea I added was a pu-erh I did not particularly care for.  I have to add more black tea to every cup just because there really was not enough.  It is a good cup of chai.  I also have enough to probably six months to a year.  Which nice because I got tired of going to the store.  And airport security really does not know what to do with tea tins.