Satya's Indian Chai Tea
Chai is an immersion of tea, fresh ginger, spices, and sugar in boiled water and milk. One part water and one part milk. This recipe will serve for a couple of large mugs.
Simmer two cups of water with one whole pod of cardamon (open it and use only the black grains inside) and a quarter inch slice of fresh ginger (minced) for ten or more minutes. Add two to three tea bags or equivalent of loose tea, one clove, one pinch of cinnamon or tiny piece of cinnamon stick, and five to eight fennel seeds whole. Simmer one additional minute and add enough milk to equal the volume of water. [Whole milk yields a creamy satin tea but 2% works just fine too.] Increase the heat a bit to bring to boil. Sweeten to taste with sugar, raw sugar, or honey. Strain into mugs. People from India bring the final concoction to a boil and keep it boiling another minute or so for a very rich tea.
Some people detest the taste of the clove and make it without. Sometimes a pinch of freshly ground black pepper replaces or adds to the clove.
Some people prefer no cinnamon.
Some prefer just the ginger and increase the amount of ginger a bit. The ginger alone will make fine chai.
You must play with this recipe to suit your taste. There are no rules.
Enjoy!