Iced Masala Chai at Home: Cold Chai Without Bitterness

The problem with chilled chai

Pour a cup of normal masala chai over ice and you get a thin, pale drink within two minutes. The ice melts and dilutes it, and anything that tasted balanced hot now tastes flat. Leave a pot of chai in the fridge overnight and it often turns cloudy, with a harsh edge. Iced masala chai at home needs a slightly different method, not just a colder one.

Make a concentrate, not a cup

Iced drinks dilute, so the base must be stronger. Aim for roughly double the usual tea and spice strength relative to the liquid, then let the ice take it back to normal.

A starting point for two tall glasses:

• 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) water
• 2 to 3 teaspoons CTC tea leaves, or 3 to 4 tea bags
• 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 2 cloves, a small piece of cinnamon, a few slices of fresh ginger
• Sugar to taste, about 2 to 3 teaspoons per glass

Our basic masala chai recipe uses milk in the pot, but for iced chai it is better to brew the tea in water only and add cold milk later.

Brew it

Simmer the water with the spices and ginger for 3 to 4 minutes so they release flavour. Add the tea and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes more, no longer. Long boiling of black tea draws out tannins, which taste bitter and astringent, and those are far more noticeable when a drink is cold. Take the pan off the heat, add sugar while it is hot so it dissolves, and strain.

If you do not like bitterness, a shorter brew with a bit more tea is better than a long brew with less. For why chai turns bitter, see our post on bitter or watery chai.

Cool it properly

Let the concentrate sit for 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature, then pour it into a jug and chill it in the fridge. Do not put a very hot, deep pot directly into the fridge, since it warms everything around it. Once cold, it keeps for about 2 to 3 days in a covered jar. If it has been sitting longer, or looks oddly cloudy with a sour smell, discard it.

If you are in a hurry, pour the hot concentrate over a full glass of ice, stir, then add cold milk. The drink will be a little more diluted, so make the concentrate a touch stronger for this method.

Why chai goes cloudy

Strong tea cooled below room temperature can turn cloudy because compounds in the tea come together as it chills. It is harmless and mostly a matter of appearance. Adding a small splash of hot water to the cooled concentrate often clears it. Brewing in softer water, or using a slightly shorter infusion, reduces the effect.

Milk: add it cold, at the end

Cold milk goes in the glass at serving time. This keeps the tea tasting clean and avoids any chance of curdling. Hot milk added to chilled tea, or cold milk left out with the tea for hours, behaves badly. Fill the glass with ice, pour in about 100 ml (1/3 cup) of concentrate, top up with cold milk and stir. Taste and adjust sweetness at that point.

If you want a creamier drink, use full-fat milk or a splash of evaporated milk. A dairy-free version works with oat milk, which handles the spices well. Almond milk is thinner and tends to disappear in strong tea.

Variations

Note that lemon juice added to milk tea will curdle the milk. Lemon goes with milkless chai only.

Ice that does not water it down

Freeze some of the concentrate in an ice tray and use those cubes in the glass. They chill the drink without thinning it, and the last sip tastes as strong as the first. Plain ice works if you pour the concentrate over it and drink within a few minutes. For parties, a tray of chai cubes made the night before saves you from guessing how strong to brew.

Common mistakes in one list

1. Brewing the same strength as hot chai, so the ice waters it down.
2. Boiling the tea for 8 or 10 minutes.
3. Mixing milk into the concentrate and storing it for days.
4. Adding sugar to the cold glass, where it sits at the bottom. Dissolve it in the hot concentrate.
5. Using crushed spices and not straining finely, which leaves grit.

A batch for the week

Make a litre of concentrate on Sunday, keep it chilled in a bottle and pour a glass whenever the afternoon needs one. It is also a good option for guests, since the concentrate is ready and you only need to add ice and milk. For a longer drinks lineup, see summer drinks from a desi pantry.

Add tea leaves, cardamom, ginger and milk to your Degchi list, so a heat-wave afternoon does not find you short of any of them.