This Homemade Iced Chai Tea Latte Concentrate is one of those recipes that completely changed my daily routine and I am so excited to share it with you. I make a batch of this in my Instant Pot every week and having it ready in the refrigerator means I can pull together a perfect iced chai latte in about two minutes without ever leaving my house or spending coffee shop prices. The concentrate is made with whole spices including fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, star anise, cardamom, and nutmeg along with black tea bags and it smells absolutely incredible while it is cooking.
The flavor is deeply spiced, perfectly sweet, and so much more complex and delicious than anything you can buy at the store.
The best part is how easy this is to make in the Instant Pot. The whole process takes just minutes of hands on time and then the concentrate stores in the refrigerator for up to 10 days which means you are set up for a full week of delicious homemade chai lattes with almost no effort.
You can serve it iced over milk for a cold and refreshing drink or heat it up for a warm and cozy chai latte depending on what you are in the mood for.
If you have been spending too much money at coffee shops on chai lattes this recipe is going to be a complete game changer for you.
If you are looking for more delicious drinks you might also enjoy my Dunkin Copycat Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, this Lemon Lime Homemade Sports Drink, my Easy Instant Pot Apple Cider, this Homemade Blueberry Lemonade or my Dunkin Copycat Brown Sugar Cream Cold Brew recipes.
You can find all of my drink recipes here: Gluten Free Drink Recipes
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Instructions
Add water, ginger slices, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, whole peppercorns, star anise, ground cardamom and ground nutmeg to your instant pot. Cook using the manual setting for 3 minutes. Let the steam release naturally.
Carefully strain the mixture into a jar or pitcher using a fine mesh strainer. While the mixture is still hot add the brown sugar, honey and vanilla. Stir to combine.
Add the tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. (Any longer may make the tea flavor bitter). Remove the tea bags and let the chai tea latte concentrate cool to room temperature.
Store in a sealed bottle or jar for up to 10 days in the refrigerator.
To make an iced chai latte use 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of chai tea concentrate over ice.
To make a hot chai latte heat 1 cup of milk in the microwave and add 1 cup of chai tea concentrate.
Supplies
Variations
- Pumpkin Cold Cream - top with my pumpkin cold cream recipe
- Brown Sugar Cold Cream - top with my brown sugar cold cream recipe
- Decaf - use decaf black tea bags
More Recipes You Might Enjoy
I get a lot of my ingredients from Thrive Market. Thrive Market has been a game changer for me eating gluten free. They have so many options I can't get at my rural grocery stores! Use this link to get 40% off your first order!
Iced Chai Tea Latte Concentrate
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This homemade Iced Chai Tea Latte Concentrate is made in the Instant Pot in just minutes using whole spices and black tea bags for the most flavorful and aromatic chai concentrate you have ever tasted. Fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, star anise, cardamom, and nutmeg are pressure cooked into a deeply spiced chai concentrate that stores in the refrigerator for up to 10 days for perfect iced or hot chai lattes all week long. Naturally gluten free and so much better and more affordable than anything you can buy at the store or order at a coffee shop!
Ingredients
- 6 cups Water
- 1-inch chunk Fresh Ginger, peeled and chopped into think rounds
- 3 Cinnamon Sticks
- 2 tsp Whole Cloves
- 2 tsp Whole Peppercorns
- 3 Star Anise
- ½ tsp Ground Cardamom
- ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 8 Black Tea Bags or Decaf Black Tea Bags
Milk, for making latte
Instructions
Add water, ginger slices, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, whole peppercorns, star anise, ground cardamom and ground nutmeg to your instant pot. Cook using the manual setting for 3 minutes. Let the steam release naturally.
Carefully strain the mixture with a fine mesh strainer into a bottle, jar or pitcher. While the mixture is still hot add the brown sugar, honey and vanilla. Stir to combine.
Add the tea bags and let steep for 5 minutes. (Any longer may make the tea flavor bitter). Remove the tea bags and let the chai tea latte concentrate cool to room temperature.
Store in a sealed bottle or jar for up to 10 days in the refrigerator.
To make an iced chai latte use 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of chai tea concentrate over ice.
To make a hot chai latte heat 1 cup of milk in the microwave and add 1 cup of chai tea concentrate.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Drinks
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
If you made this Iced Chai Tea Latte Concentrate I would love to hear what you thought! Please leave a star rating and a comment below. This is one of my favorite homemade drink recipes and I hope it becomes a staple in your kitchen too!
Storage
Store the iced chai tea latte concentrate in a sealed jar or bottle for up to 10 days in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
An iced chai tea latte is milk and chai tea concentrate over ice. You add ice to your cup, pour 1 cup milk and then 1 cup chai concentrate over top. You can serve with cold cream on top if you want.
Chai tea is typically heat milk with a chai tea bag. While a chai latte uses cold milk and a chai tea concentrate. Chai tea isn't sweet unless you add a sweetener and chai lattes are usually sweet because there is a sweetener in the concentrate.
No. An iced chai latte does not have any coffee in it. You can choose to use regular or decaffeinated tea bags for your chai concentrate. You can order or make a dirty chai latte that has a shot of espresso in it.
Top Tip
Do not steep the tea bags for longer than 5 minutes once you add them to the hot spiced liquid. Steeping too long will make the tea flavor bitter and overpower the beautiful warm spice blend. Set a timer as soon as the tea bags go in and remove them promptly at the 5 minute mark. The spices will continue to infuse flavor as the concentrate cools so the final result will be perfectly balanced and deeply aromatic without any bitterness.
franz says
Did you know that "chai" means tea?
Iced tea tea latte concentrate.
Maybe educate yourself a tiny bit before culturally appropriating stuff from other cultures.
smallfarmbiglife says
Hi Franz. I did know that chai means tea and wrestled with the name of this blog post. I wasn't sure if everyone would know what chai means though, so ultimately I chose to put the word "tea" in the title. I thought going into the meaning of chai would actually be culturally appropriating so I didn't since this is a very Americanized version of a chai recipe. There's also the google algorithm that I have to serve to get posts seen at all. I wasn't sure if google would automatically categorize chai as tea either. Ultimately, I put a lot of thought into whether or not the word "tea" should go into this posts title knowing that likely someone wouldn't like it and I could get a comment exactly like this.
Cass says
This is great. Thanks for sharing your version of a drink that enjoyed by so many.
-Drinker of chai and sharer of cultures.