Masala Tea

When I was holiday in Sri Lanka with my family, we visited the Labookellie tea estate on the way to Nuwara Eliya. It was simply of the best tea that I had ever tasted. The best part was the tea was mixed with condensed milk( just the way I like it) and not with fresh milk like the ones you get in India. Although the tea tasted great, I did not buy any tea while I was at the estate. I'm more of a coffee drinker than tea. My brother however bought a few boxes of the Labookellie Mackwoods tea as gifts for his friends. After returning from Sri Lanka, both my husband and I started craving for the Mackwoods tea. I was too embarassed to ask my brother for some of the tea that he had bought so I tried to order some Mackwoods tea online. I was not too successful and finally gave up. A few weeks later my brother and sister in-law came for a visit and brought two boxes of the Mackwoods tea that they bought in Sri Lanka! Now was God answering my prayers or what.....

I still have my 2 boxes of Mackwoods and would normally make some tea when my husband or I have a craving for chaya. Lately after our holidays in Kerala, my husband and I have started to crave for tea and snacks for our chaya time during weekends. My favourite is the Masala tea. I googled up for some recipes and this is my version of Masala tea and it tastes exceptional made with Mackwoods tea.

Ingredients

1 tbsp Mackwoods tea or any type of black tea will do as well

1 cups water
1/2 cup milk
sugar to taste

For the masala
1/2 inch fresh ginger, you can use dried ginger
2-3 cardomoms
1/2" cinnamon
1 star anise
2-3 cloves
1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground pepper, for some heat


Directions

1. Bring water to a boil, add in the masala ingredients and boil for about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add in tea and boil for another 3 minutes
3. Lastly add in milk. When you see little bubbles appearing in the tea, turn off the fire. Dont let the tea boil again.
4. Strain, add sugar to taste and enjoy!