What Is Chai Tea? Terrific Tea

People have been drinking tea for thousands of years and there are hundreds of different types of tea out there. Chai tea is one of the most popular teas out there and it is known for its unique flavor. But what is chai tea exactly?

How is it any different compared to any other kind of tea? Where does it come from and how is it made? Keep reading and learn more about chai tea below.

What Is Chai Tea?

The first thing you should know about this type of tea is that there are countless chai tea recipe options. There are quite a few tea ingredients to consider and each pot of this tea will be unique, especially when it comes to homemade tea. The main ingredient is black tea from the Camellia sinensis plant.

Black tea is a particularly strong type of tea, especially when compared to green or white variants. What makes this tea unique, however, is the fact that it is blended with a variety of unique spices such as cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, and so on. Some forms of this tea will have other ingredients such as cloves or ginger.

Whatever the case, this tea is quite spicy and flavorful. To make sure that the tea isn’t too strong, most people serve this tea with a bit of milk and sugar mixed in. However, the use of milk and sugar in tea is not traditional. This tea originated as an Ayurvedic healing tea used in India for more than 5,000 years.

Darjeeling black tea is the main type of tea used for chai. There are some types of chai made with green tea, but this is not common.

The Benefits

There are actually many benefits of chai tea. After all, it was used as Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years. The first benefit has to do with the taste. Since chai is enriched with strong spices, it only makes sense that the taste should be rich and invigorating.

Of course, if the taste of chai on its own is too strong for you, you can always mix it with milk. Buffalo milk goes perfectly with chai and many people in India use it. The flavor of the chai itself will depend on where it comes from and what ingredients are in it. Some chai may have flavors of cocoa and saffron while others may taste like black pepper and cinnamon.

But does chai tea have caffeine, you might ask? Indeed, it does. The chai tea caffeine content is similar to other black teas and it should give you a kick to start your day.

Other chai tea benefits include that this tea is rich in antioxidants that can help reduce inflammation in the body. Also, due to the fact that this tea is very spicy, it can also help promote better blood circulation throughout the body. This is because spice, in general, causes your blood vessels to dilate.

This allows the blood to flow easier and it also lowers high blood pressure. For that reason, this tea may also be good for your heart and cardiovascular system. Of course, more scientific studies are necessary to see exactly how effective this tea is for these different purposes, but chai certainly seems to be helpful for keeping your blood flowing.

If you’re interested in trying this tea for yourself, click here to get yourself some. After all, there are many different types of tea you can try!

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