Dirty Chai sounds like something from a previous era (think dirty dancing). It does not sound like a drink. This drink has become very popular in South Africa, especially in the more commercial or chain drink shops. I have never really given it much attention as I like to drink espresso coffee from roasteries that do not really cater to chai drinkers. But I love spices. And recently someone in my family has become addicted to this drink. So why not give it a go? In this recipe, I will share with you my masala chai recipe (which is by no means authentic or traditional!) and how I make the drink called Dirty Chai. I also briefly veer into the history of this drink which is very interesting. I hope you give this recipe a try, as it is very easy and I think very healthy! It only uses whole spices and "healthy" ingredients.
The ingredients for this recipe are relatively simple and commonly available, albeit more expensive with recent price increases. The only tricky ingredient is the espresso if you do not have an espresso machine. (But I am sure you can buy an espresso and take it home. The chai masala will be very hot.)
You will need:
For the tea component, you will need tea (obviously). Traditionally you would have used more authentic tea, but in South Africa, we are blessed to have our own local tea. Some might be familiar with it, but it is called Rooibos (red bush) tea. This is by no means traditional, but I like red bush tea so I opt to use it. And it is an indigenous plant to South Africa so it imparts some "local flavor" to this already strange drink.
You will also obviously need some espresso. I am lucky to live with a family that owns an espresso machine, so I have the luxury to make some fresh espresso for this dirty chai.
There are more authentic recipes all over the internet, but like always, what do we even mean by "authentic"? I think most authentic recipes are just some variant of a family recipe that got "stuck" in the annals of history. People merely copied and copied and copied the same recipe throughout the years, but most families have their own unique recipe. Here is just my haphazard way of making masala chai with red bush tea.
I start by heating the milk. You can use any type of milk, each milk will impart its own unique flavor.
I do not wait for it to warm up that much, but in the meantime, I lightly crush my spices:
I then add all of the spices and tea to the by now tepid milk.
I also add some honey just to sweeten it ever so slightly.
I proceed to simmer or lightly boil the mixture of spices and tea for about three minutes.
You will need to strain the tea and spices out. I think if you want to you can reuse it immediately, but due to the boiling in milk you will not be able to use it again.
I think to myself, this is either a good way to spoil some good coffee or to spoil some good masala chai (I really like masala chai on a cold day).
But here we are! Ready your espresso. You will next mix the masala chai and the espresso, creating the "dirty chai".
The dance is very dirty, a mixture of masala chai and espresso, Italy meets India, and South Africa meets the mixture half in between. An amalgamation of global proportions. Either way, you now have your dirty chai ready. On a cold winter morning, it soothes the cold and gives you the extra kick that you require to start the day.
I have to say, it is not all that bad. Not to sound like that, but the coffee gives it a nice earthy undertone. I will not opt for this too often, but once in a while, it can be nice to have.
I really hope you give this recipe a try! I must say, it can grow on you if you like coffee and masala chai, but for the more purists out there, this might be an abomination of epic proportions.
Who knows why xyz happened? It is often said that victors write the history books, and this is true. But it is also true that mindless copying can also be blamed for the origin of things. Like most weird stories about food and drinks, the origin of Dirty Chai is lost. But it is claimed to have happened by accident when a barista accidentally added espresso to a masala chai but the client still drank it. Who knows if this is true. The truer version I would reckon has a capitalist spin to it: pure marketing and an easily adaptable recipe to the western palate. But again, who knows? People add strange things to their drinks and sometimes it just works. As mentioned, the coffee gives a rich but earthy undertone to the spicy cardamom and cinnamon (cassia) tea. I can taste why it just works so well. But we should not forget that for many hundreds of years people have used similar spices in coffee. Maybe tea is the bastard in this relationship and not the spices. Maybe we should try spices and coffee more often! Alas, this is a post on chai and not coffee.
I hope you have tried this or will try this recipe. It is something radically different. Please do try this and let me know how it went! All of the photographs (and gif!) were taken by me with my iPhone. All of the musings are my own unless stated (linked) otherwise. Who knows who the first person was who put masala chai and coffee together, but what a combination!
