Vegan Dirty Chai Latte

  reading time: 3 min





Confession time: I had never heard of a "dirty chai" before recently watching Rachel Talbott's video on seasonal home maintenance – I absolutely adore her videos, especially the ones about gardening and housekeeping!!

So in case you aren't familiar with the concept of dirty chai either: It's a hot or cold beverage that consists of a single shot or double shot of espresso mixed into a spiced chai tea (masala chai) that is usually made with a chai concentrate. Combined with frothed milk, you've got yourself a mix between a regular latte macchiato, and a chai tea latte –– a DIRTY CHAI latte!


This beverage is also known as espresso chai or java chai.

Loving both chai tea and (decaf) coffee, I was immediately intrigued and decided to make my own dirty chai latte as soon as possible – not the iced version though, as we are already in the midst of a grey and rainy autumn here in Northern Germany.

And what can I say?
It's creamy, it's silky and milky, and fragrantly spiced with a mild coffee flavour – and I love it!!

So here's how you can make your own!


VEGAN DIRTY CHAI

Preparation time: 15 mins
Main ingredients: oat milk, chai tea, coffee
difficulty level: easy
serves: 2
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups full-fat oat milk *
1/2 cup boiling water
2 chai tea bags (or make your own chai spice blend, and use 3 tsp of that in this recipe along with 2 bags of black tea or rooibos tea)

1/4 cup hot strong coffee or 1 shot espresso, freshly brewed (I use decaf coffee)
2 tsp raw cane sugar or coconut blossom sugar or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

cinnamon, to garnish

* In order to achieve the desired creaminess I find that you get the best results when using either the Alpro Not M*LK with 3.5 g fat per 100 ml, or the Oatly Oat Drink Barista Edition with 3.5 g fat per 100 ml, or their Oat Drink Whole with 2.8 g fat per 100 ml. You could also try vanilla sweetened milk, and omit the vanilla extract!

Instructions:

Place the 2 tea bags in a mug and cover with 1/2 cup of boiling water. Allow to steep for at least 10 minutes (along with the spice blend, if using), then whisk in the sugar and vanilla extract to dissolve. The longer the tea steeps, the more intense the flavour will be!

Discard tea bags.

In a small saucepan, heat up the full-fat oat milk until simmering. Remove from heat, and use a milk frother or a handheld immersion blender to foam up the milk.

Divide the strong sweetened chai tea between two mugs. Pour the frothed milk over the top of the hot drink. Lastly, pour in the hot strong coffee or espresso.

Top with cinnamon and/or a small cinnamon stick.

Serve hot. Enjoy!



To make iced dirty chai:
 
Place the 2 tea bags in a mug and cover with 1/2 cup of boiling water. Allow to steep for at least 10 minutes, then whisk in the sugar to dissolve.

Discard tea bags, and a
llow the tea to cool.

Divide a handful of ice between your glasses, and pour the cold tea over the ice. Add espresso. Then pour refrigerated full-fat oat milk on top. Serve and enjoy immediately.


TIPS:
- To make this recipe even more decadent and rich, omit the water, and simmer your tea bags (along with the spice blend, if using) in 2 cups of full-fat oat milk, then reduce stove heat to low, and steep for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add coffee, sugar and vanilla, and enjoy!
-
If you don't have a milk frother or an immersion blender, pour the milk into a jar with a lid – no more than a third of the way full. Seal the jar with a lid and give it a good shake for about 30 seconds or so.





Maisy

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