Overcome Your Gut + Digestive Issues With Ancestral Nutrition
Powdered Herbal Chai
I love tea! It’s warm, soothing, and it helps my digestion to have a nice warm mug of it in the morning time! Personally I’m not big on caffeine so I like to go for herbal teas. However, I find many herbal teas to be a little bland. They often lack the smooth rich creaminess of a good ol’ cup of coffee.
At least this is the way I thought for a while. Until I stumbled upon some delicious herbal teas from a local herb shop called Rosemary’s Garden. One of the teas was a nourishing herbal chai. It contained herbs like Ashwagandha, Licorice, Maca, Shatavari, and Eleuthero in addition to the original chai spices and all the herbs and spices were ground into a fine powder. This tea was so good! The herbs made it naturally sweet so I didn’t even need to add honey and it was so tasty I didn’t even miss the black tea.
Being the chef that I am, I had to recreate it. I used the traditional chai spices: cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and black pepper. Then I added some of the herbs from the wonderful Rosemary’s Garden tea: Ashwagandha, Licorice, and Maca. I had trouble finding the others but I really liked it with just these three. I also added a little lavender, an ingredient my dad taught me to add to chai.
Then I blended them all together to thoroughly mix. A little spoon of the chai mix, some hot water, and a splash of almond milk and boom I had myself a delicious creamy nourishing chai!
I really like the powder aspect of this tea. I was skeptical at first but it has proven to be both time efficient and delicious. Mixing a little powder with hot water takes hardly any time were as traditional chai takes about 10 minutes to boil and then has to sit for 10 more minutes. The powdered chai is much more efficient without sacrificing quality. The powder also makes it a little thicker and richer than steeping tea leaves.
Anyways, this is a delicious recipe that I enjoy very much and I hope you do to!
With love from my kitchen to yours,
Kayley
P.S. If you would prefer a more traditional caffeinated chai recipe, I have that as well.
Powdered Herbal Chai
(caffeine free)
AuthorKayley O'BrienStart by gathering all your ingredients. Although I highly recommend you use the powdered forms of the herbs and spices, if you are unable to find one or two of them in their powdered forms, you can add the whole ingredient instead. If adding the whole ingredient make sure you use a little more since the volume of spices decreases when you grind them. For example use 1 tbsp whole cloves instead of 2 tsp powder. Since if you were to grind cloves the powder would take up less space then the whole clove.
Next, thoroughly combine all herbs and spices. I like to use a blender or food processor for this. If you don't have a food processor or blender, you can mix all the ingredients in a bowl or add them to a jar and shake the jar till fully combined. Note if you don't use a blender, you will need to use the powdered forms of all the herbs and spices.
After fully combined, transfer to a jar, Tupperware, or ziplock bag for storage.
When you're ready to enjoy some tea, spoon about 2 tsp of the chai mixture into a mug, fill with about 2 cups of hot water, stir well, add some milk of your choice and enjoy!
Ingredients
Directions
Start by gathering all your ingredients. Although I highly recommend you use the powdered forms of the herbs and spices, if you are unable to find one or two of them in their powdered forms, you can add the whole ingredient instead. If adding the whole ingredient make sure you use a little more since the volume of spices decreases when you grind them. For example use 1 tbsp whole cloves instead of 2 tsp powder. Since if you were to grind cloves the powder would take up less space then the whole clove.
Next, thoroughly combine all herbs and spices. I like to use a blender or food processor for this. If you don't have a food processor or blender, you can mix all the ingredients in a bowl or add them to a jar and shake the jar till fully combined. Note if you don't use a blender, you will need to use the powdered forms of all the herbs and spices.
After fully combined, transfer to a jar, Tupperware, or ziplock bag for storage.
When you're ready to enjoy some tea, spoon about 2 tsp of the chai mixture into a mug, fill with about 2 cups of hot water, stir well, add some milk of your choice and enjoy!
(1)
Works Cited
1. “Ashwagandha.” WebMd. Accessed 14 July 2019. https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-953/ashwagandha
About Kayley
Kayley is a certified gut health nutrition coach who helps people to overcome their chronic gut and digestive issues at the root using the principles of ancestral nutrition and holistic health. (Continue Reading Here)
