Have you tried Chai Tea?
Son#1: “Mom, please can you organize Chai Tea for me?”
Me: “Huh? I thought you wanted to do Muay Thai? I mean, after you met Quentin Chong you were so amped for it.”
Son#1: “What are you TALKING about?”
Me: “I know you! You’ll start off this new sport with great gusto and then lose interest, just you did with Karate!”
Son#1: *totally bewildered look*
Me: “And anyway, you don’t have the time, what with all your other sports and school work and stuff. I’m not going to waste money, or ask Dad to waste money on another flash in the pan idea!”
Son#1: *bends over double in fits of hysterical laughter*
Me: *mortified* (wtf?) “What? Why are you laughing?”
Son#1: “No mom! I mean Chai Tea, not Tai Chi, CHAI TEA … T-E-A … Chai Tea is TEA! Bwahaha!
Me: “Tea?” (the lights go on … ooops!)
Son: “YES!! Its tea. It’s a spicy tea. That you DRINK! You can buy it at Pick ‘n Pay or Woolies or something.”
Me: “Oh. Mmk, I’ll look out for it and see how much it costs.” *blush*
**
So I looked, and I found it, and I was curious so I bought it =) And let me tell you, it’s totally yummy!
Chai is a spicy milk tea from India – they’ve been drinking it for centuries – and it’s now becoming popular all over the world. It’s a combination of milk, black tea, sweetener and various spices like cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and pepper.
You can make it from scratch, but I think that would be a mission for busy people, so the alternative is to buy it in a concentrate or powered form. All you need to then do is add either hot milk or water, depending on the brand/type you buy. I use fat free milk (‘cos it’s all I keep in the house) and that helps to keep the calories down a bit – works out to about the same amount as a cappuccino.
I bought the powdered one from Woolies (works out to about R4/cup) and Son#1 made me my first cup of Chai Tea a couple of days ago. Lovely stuff! I didn’t think I would like it, but then I didn’t think I would like sushi either … I’m really enjoying the taste (sipping a cuppa as I bang this out … no, really I AM!) – it’s not really like any other flavour I’ve encountered before. I think I can best describe it as a mixture between Horlicks and hot cross buns =) The weird thing is that I don’t actually like either of those two, but the taste combination somehow works for me.
So do give it a whirl if you haven’t yet, you may be in for a real treat! Just be careful though, it apparently has as much caffeine in it as coffee, so don’t go drinking a cup just before bed time.
Bottoms up!
** Based on a true-life conversation