Starbucks Iced Chai Latte

Making an iced chai latte at home is so easy, budget-friendly and just as delicious as one from Starbucks, if not more so because you can make adjustments to suit your preferences. While I used to be completely obsessed with Starbucks Iced Chai Lattes, I now find them a little too sweet. I make my own chai concentrate and add the sugar to create a latte that has strong chai flavor, complimented by just the right amount of sweetness. All you will need is: your favorite chai tea bags, brown sugar and milk of choice.

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I’m a huge tea lover and chai was my first love. I’ve mentioned how it was the only thing that got me through my 8 am anthropology class in college and I still love a good chai latte today. But now, I mostly make my chai lattes at home. Let’s make one!

A chai latte typically includes equal parts of the following:

• Chai concentrate: I’m going to show you how to make your own. It’s super easy and all you need are chai tea bags and brown sugar
• Milk of choice: I think regular ol’ 2% milk makes the creamiest latte, but oat milk is a great substitute. You can really use any type of milk you like though.

You can make a hot chai latte just as easily as an iced one. Simply warm the concentrate and warm/froth the milk. That’s really the only difference!

As I mentioned above, all you will need to make chai concentrate at home are: chai tea bags, brown sugar and water. You can of course make chai concentrate completely from scratch by brewing black tea with chai spices (cinnamon, black pepper, start anise, ginger, cardamom, etc.), but I prefer to just use my favorite bagged chai tea.

The first step in making chai concentrate is to brew tea. Add 2 cups of boiling water to 4 single-serve chai tea bags. Let this steep for 5 minutes. You don’t want to steep the tea for too long as it can become bitter.

Then add the tea–or you can add it directly–to a pot and turn heat to medium-high. Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Bring to a simmer and allow it to continue to simmer for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and add to a jar with a secure lid. You might want to be able to give it a quick shake before preparing your chai latte if you’ll be storing the chai to use at a later time.

Enjoy within 5 days.

The chai latte from Starbucks is made with chai concentrate, 2% milk and ice (if you order an iced drink). The chai concentrate is made with black tea, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, vanilla and cane sugar. And that’s in addition to a few additives like “natural flavors” and citric acid.

You can buy Tazo Chai Concentrate at many grocery stores, Target and amazon. They even make decaf (affiliate link). While the Tazo Chai concentrate is similar, I still think it tastes slightly different than the chai they serve at Starbucks. And I also find the boxed chai concentrate is very sweet. It contains 22 grams of sugar in a 3/4 cup serving.

No, a chai latte does not have coffee in it. Chai is made with black tea and a unique blend of spices. A popular variation on a chai latte is called a “Dirty Chai” and is a chai latte with a shot of espresso added. I have a recipe for that here. If you are concerned about caffeine, Tazo makes a decaf concentrate (affiliate link) or you can find a bagged decaf chai tea that you like.

Chai includes lots of warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and black pepper and it can also be a little bit spicy. This is why it pairs so well with milk and sugar. It brings those warming/spicy flavors into perfect balance!

Yes! If you want to make chai concentrate completely from scratch, meaning you will use whole spices and brew with black tea, check out this post from Sweet Steep.

If you try this recipe, please consider leaving a comment/rating below and let me know how it went. I’d love to hear from you! You can also connect with me on instagram and Pinterest.

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