Chai Blends
Four ways India makes masala chai
“Masala chai” is not one recipe. It is a family of them, and which spice leads depends on where the pan is standing.
Every household has its own proportion, but across India four styles come up again and again. They share a base — strong black tea, milk, sugar, whole spices — and diverge on the spice that carries the cup.
| Blend | Leading spice | Character | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lemongrass | Lemongrass, ginger | Bright, citrus, light | Maharashtra |
| Cardamom | Green cardamom | Sweet, floral, rounded | North India |
| Ginger | Fresh ginger | Sharp, warming, bold | Central India |
| Spicy Masala | Full spice box | Deep, peppery, complex | Gujarat |
What they all have in common
The base is always a strong, malty black tea — usually Assam, usually broken leaf or CTC, because it has to stand up to milk and long simmering. A delicate first-flush Darjeeling would disappear entirely. If you want to taste the leaf itself, brew an Upper Assam plain instead.
Spices go in whole and bruised, not ground to powder. Powder clouds the cup and turns bitter over a long simmer; a cracked cardamom pod releases its oil slowly and cleanly.
Chai blends in stock
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Browse the shopChoosing between them
If you are new to making chai at home, start with cardamom — it is forgiving, and it is the flavour most people already recognise. Move to ginger when you want the cup to warm you, and to the full spicy masala when you are comfortable balancing five spices at once. Lemongrass sits slightly apart: lighter, more aromatic, and the easiest to drink in warm weather.
Full method in the brewing guide.