I love a good Chai tea, and I love to make it from scratch. But some days (OK, most days) I don’t have the time to assemble all of the ingredients to decoct (simmer for a while) them into a nice spicy Chai. I’ve worked on this recipe a bit and it has become a favorite for a quick, satisfying Chai. It all starts with a quick spice infused honey.

Ingredients for the spice infused honey:

• ½ cup raw unprocessed honey
• 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves
• ½ teaspoons ground cardamon
• 1/8 teaspoons ground black pepper

Directions:

Pour honey into a small squeaky clean glass jar (an 8 oz mason jar works great). Put a few inches of hot water into a bowl. Set the jar of honey into the bowl to gently warm it. When honey has thinned a bit, remove jar from the warming bowl and stir each spice into the honey. I like to use a chopstick for stirring. The honey is now ready for long term (probably a year or more) storage. Just be careful to never get any moisture into the honey.

Making the tea:

Place a tea bag of your choice (black, green, herbal) and 2 slices of fresh ginger in your teacup. Don’t have fresh ginger? No problem, but a dash of dried in your cup. Fill 2/3 full with near boiling water. Cover the cup with a saucer or small plate. Steep for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and pour in a milk of your choice (my favorite is currently Oatmilk) Stir in a generous tablespoon of your spice infused honey. Enjoy!