Super Anti-Inflammmatory Chai Tea Latte

A simple thing most of us could do to improve our health is to eat and cook with more herbs and spices. For thousands of years these plants were our medicines and today most pharmaceuticals are still derivatives, isolates or phytochemicals from plants.  Most of us know someone on a statin drug, did you know statins came from Red Yeast Rice?

This home made Chai Tea Latte is something I use most mornings to boost my intake of healthy spices. A few years ago I started drinking the occasional Starbucks Chai latte only to find many latte's later I was consuming a massive dose of sugar and other things in them.  Once you gather all the ingredients this recipe is actually very simple and mostly takes some time so I recommend batch cooking using this recipe once a week.

​Since a lot of people are now ketogenic and using bulletproof coffee or fat coffee, this Chai is a super healthy option for us non coffee people.  See the bulletproof addition as you scroll down the page. This bullletproof tea (or your coffee) is a very popular way to start off the day and will keep you from being hungry for many hours. 

​Super Anti Inflammatory Chai Tea Latte (makes ~8 cups)
 
Ingredients
3 large Ceylon cinnamon sticks (real cinnamon)
4 tsp black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
20 whole cloves
12 green cardamom pods, cracked
About 8 cups of water, you can add more or less water once made, to your taste
3 tablespoon of lose black tea (option to use 6 tea bags)
4 tiny scoops (4g) of Monk Fruit I get from Julian’s Bakery (not erythritol/Monk Fruit). I am leaving real sugar out to make this keto or bulletproof tea, see the bulletproof section below this recipe. If you prefer you can use honey, raw sugar or stevia to taste
2 (2 inch) pieces of fresh organic ginger, sliced up
Splash of real cream or coconut cream
 
Directions 
Heat water use about 7-8 cups
 
Add 3 tablespoons of lose black to tea strainer/pot along with water, steep 15 minutes, *remember you can add more water later to dilute the strength of the tea later if needed
 
Crush/crack cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods if not cracked (I use a rolling pinJ)
 
To a medium sauce pan add peppercorns, crushed/cracked cinnamon, cardamom pods, cloves, monk fruit, bay leaf and enough hot water to cover, low simmer for at least 30 minutes covered (I often go 1 hour)
 
Slice ginger and add to a separate container, then add hot water to cover it and cover for 15 minutes
 
Once tea and ginger have steeped 15ish minutes remove the lose tea from the water, then add the ginger water to the fresh tea you just made. Once you have emptied the ginger water into the tea add the ginger pieces to the medium sauce pan with the other ingredients for the remaining time.
 
Once done simmering 30 or more minutes add the spice fluids from the sauce pan to the tea. It is now ready to sample and if needed you can add some water to taste. I allow the Chai Tea to cool then refrigerate so it is ready for the week ahead.  To use, just reheat, along with adding the cream if you like.
 
To Make a Bulletproof Chai Tea Latte
 
In a large cup add about 6-8 ounces of the hot Chai tea and:
 
1 tablespoon MCT or coconut oil (I use bullet proof brain octane or XCT oil)
1 tablespoon of Kerry gold pasture butter (you can also use ghee)
1 scoop of Ancient Nutrition multi collagen powder (any grass-fed organic collagen is fine)
 
Mix well, I use a stick blender, but any mixer, electric whisk, magic bullet, will work.