Think: Starbucks’ famous brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso drink but with chai. The spices and tea go so perfectly with creamy oat milk and brown sugar. It’s the perfect fall (or, really, any season) beverage and unbelievably good.

You can use a chai concentrate or make your own chai! You can customize it to your liking using different spices or teas, but traditionally, it’s made with black tea, ginger, and cardamom.

Here’s a great recipe to make your own brown sugar oat milk chai at home!

What is Chai?

Chai, or masala chai, is a sweetened milk tea from India that everyone drinks, maybe on a daily basis. It’s a common beverage to drink after lunch or during the day as a pick-me-up, and it’s delicious.

Chai comes from the Hindi word for ‘tea’, and masala in English means spices. So, masala chai literally translates to spiced tea.

Nearly every household in India has their own chai recipe that is just a little different than everyone else’s. Some people like to add black pepper, star anise, and nutmeg, but traditionally, it’s made with cardamom and a variation of black tea.

For sweetener, people use regular sugar, but some use jaggery, an unrefined palm sugar that has a nice molasses taste to it. Usually, whole milk or dairy milk is used in chai, since the extra fat helps make the chai smooth and flavorful.

Chai Tea?

Chai tea means tea tea. So, if you want to ask for chai, just say chai! Chai tea is an Americanized way of saying chai (no thanks to big corporations selling chai tea lattes).

But if you do say chai tea, no one will take huge offense to it and people will know what you’re talking about.

Also, a chai tea latte or chai latte is chai concentrate and milk, much like an iced latte made with espresso and milk. I don’t believe it’s a beverage you’ll find in India, as their version of chai is equal parts milk and brewed tea.

How Do You Make Chai?

Traditionally, chai is made by simmering all the ingredients together in a pot and aerating it via different methods.

Generally, you first grind fresh spices of choice for the best flavor using a mortar and pestle. Then, boil the spices in equal parts water and milk before adding tea and boiling it. Once you’ve boiled the mixture a couple of times until the desired color and consistency, strain and enjoy!

Obviously, everyone has their own method of making chai, but they all generally follow a similar structure. Most variation comes from the spices added, which tea to use, and how people aerate their chai.

The reason why you boil chai multiple times is to include air, making it creamier and smoother.

Food Science Break: Aerating chai actually helps improve the flavor! Like decanting wine, when air is incorporated into chai, it forces the oxidation of bitter agents like tannins in tea. So, chai may taste less bitter and more silky as a result.

However, there are also different ways to aerate chai, including the ladle method and pouring it onto itself.

What Does Chai Taste Like?

Chai tastes like a warm hug. Literally! It’s a creamy tea that is aromatic, smooth, and sweet. The aeration gives chai this wonderful, almost velvet texture, and it’s incredibly silky smooth.

Chai also has a very rich taste because much of the moisture from the milk has been boiled off, so it almost has an evaporated milk flavor. As a result, chai is super milky without losing any of the tea taste.

Depending on the spices added, chai can taste floral or spicy, but it’s usually a combination of both. You can bring out some of the spice by adding black pepper or ginger and adding different flavors with nutmeg and cloves.

You’ll usually drink chai hot, as that’s when the spices and sweetness really shine, but you’ll find a variety of iced chai beverages worldwide.

It’s not as traditional, but iced chai drinks have introduced millions to this beloved Indian beverage that’s present on many household tables.

How to Make it Dairy-Free

Traditional chai uses dairy. However, this recipe uses oat milk, which makes it vegan and dairy-free! Out of all the milk alternatives, oat milk works best with chai because it’s creamy.

You could use soy or almond, but I find that those milks generally have distinct flavors that stay in the beverage. Oat milk is relatively neutral, so you’ll taste all the tea and spices without additional flavors.

You can also use lactose-free milk with chai as well! I personally love lactose-free milk when I’m not in the mood to consume dairy (ironically, haha), and it adds the perfect amount of creaminess to any drink.

How To Froth Oat Milk

This is the fun part of this recipe: frothing the oat milk! There are multiple ways you can froth milk, but the most accessible one, in my opinion, is using a French press.

A French press isn’t just for coffee! It’s a great contraption for frothing milk or aerating a liquid. You can get a cheap one from a secondhand store or chain retailer for as little as $10. It’s a great investment and makes amazing frothy cold milk.

Another way to froth oat milk is to use a handheld frother, which you can get from Amazon for $10-15. It’s a great tool for frothing milk, mixing matcha, dissolving sugar, etc. The pro is that you can use it with any vessel (cup, bowl, etc.), and it’s compact.

The most efficient way to froth milk is to use an electric frother, like the Nespresso milk frother, which lets you froth both cold and hot milk. You pour your milk in, press a button, and it automatically froths it for you!

Tips

Here are some tips to make the best brown sugar oat milk chai latte:

• For cold chai drinks, I recommend using a chai concentrate because cold temperatures tend to mute flavors. Plus, it works best in a latte since the milk does not wash out the flavors.
• Make sure to froth your oat milk well. The more you froth your oat milk, the creamier your drink turns out.
• You can omit the sugar for a less sweet drink and use an unsweetened chai concentrate. It may make the oat milk harder to froth since it loses the sugar stability in the foam.