Double-Wall Mug Camp Chai
Loose black tea, milk powder, and whole spices boiled down in one pot and poured hot.
- calories
- 180
- weight
- 1.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 5 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Drink
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Loose black tea | 1 heaping tsp | CTC or a strong Assam; tea bags work but brew weaker |
|---|---|---|
| Whole milk powder | 3 tbsp | full-fat, not skim, or the cup tastes thin |
| Sugar | 2 tsp | adjust once you taste it |
| Green cardamom pods | 2 | crushed with a pot lid or a rock |
| Ground ginger | 1/4 tsp | |
| Cinnamon stick | 1 small piece | or a pinch of ground |
| Whole black peppercorns | 2 | optional, adds heat in cold weather |
| Salt | one grain |
Method
- Put 300 ml of water in the pot with the cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and peppercorns. Bring it to a boil.
- Drop the heat to a simmer and give the spices two minutes on their own. This is where the flavor comes from, not the tea.
- Add the tea and simmer another two minutes. It should go dark, past the color you want in the cup.
- Kill the heat. Wait until it stops rolling, then whisk in the milk powder with a spoon so it does not clump.
- Add the sugar and the grain of salt. Stir, taste, adjust.
- Pour through a small strainer into your mug. No strainer, let the grounds settle for a minute and pour carefully off the top.
The mug this came from was built to keep heat in and hands cool, which is a fair description of what chai needs on a cold morning. On the trail there is no double wall, so the answer is to make it strong and drink it fast.
Boiling the spices before the tea is the part people skip. Whole cardamom and cinnamon need a few minutes in hot water to give anything up, and dropping them in with the tea leaves means you get color without much else. Milk powder replaces fresh milk here and goes in off the heat, because boiling reconstituted milk scorches on a thin backpacking pot faster than you expect.
Packing
Tea, milk powder, sugar, and ground spices go into one small bag per serving. Whole pods and cinnamon ride loose in a corner of the food bag; they survive being sat on. A folding tea strainer weighs almost nothing and is the difference between chai and gritty chai.
Variations
- Skip the milk powder entirely for a black spiced tea that packs lighter.
- Instant coffee stirred into the finished cup makes a rough approximation of a dirty chai.
- In deep cold, add a tablespoon of ghee or oil. It ruins the texture and buys you an hour of warmth.
https://instacuppastore.com/products/double-wall-glass-coffee-mug-with-handle