Warm & Cozy Indian Ginger Tea Recipe - Adrak Chai

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy

Watch the recipe

YouTube ↗

Indian Ginger Milk Tea Recipe

You may be quite familiar with the word chai, which is Hindi for “tea.” If you’re wondering, to say “chai tea” literally is saying “tea tea.” So when you’re asking for a chai tea latte at your favorite coffee shop, you are saying a “tea tea latte.” Just something that makes me chuckle!

Chai is a staple beverage in India, consisting of black tea that is brewed with water, a variety of spices, sugar, and milk. Despite its popularity, believe it or not I’ve not gotten into it many years later after having come to Canada! My parents just never allowed me to drink tea growing up in New Delhi! Why? I’m not quite sure, they just said I’m too young. So unfortunately I’m not the right person to ask about the experience of enjoying chai street-side, offered by the chaiwalas (tea vendors).

My first venture into chai was with my Masala Chai recipe, which features a homemade spice blend that’s added to our boiled black tea. It is indeed very special for sure, not to mention super fast to make!

Indian Ginger Tea with Milk Benefits

Our Ginger Milk Tea will certainly not only be delicious but good for your body! Let’s start off with the numerous benefits of black tea, which include:

• Potentially reducing the risk of heart disease through polyphenols
• Heart health may be improved by flavonoids
• Possibility of the reduction in LDL cholesterol
• Easy on the gut and digestion
• Can be helpful in reducing blood pressure

To learn more about the health benefits of chai, you can check out this article by Healthline.

Not only that, but you may have heard that ginger root is widely used in alternative medicine. Ginger has got a handful of health benefits, so let’s just go over a couple:

• Many of the health benefits come from gingerol, the main bioactive ingredient in ginger. Gingerol has strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.
• Ginger assists in alleviating nausea and morning sickness
• Can reduce blood insulin levels
• Helps with digestive problems
• Assists in lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol
• Boosts immunity by reducing the risk of infections
• Can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and improve brain function.

Get more details about ginger’s health benefits here.

Why Make This Indian Ginger Milk Tea?

I bet you’ll become as addicted to this Indian Ginger Milk Tea recipe as I am! In fact, if you’re a regular coffee drinker, perhaps you’ll even swap out your morning coffee for this amazing tea! Here are only a few reasons why you need to make this today!

• Minimal ingredients: You’ll soon see that you’ll only need a handful of ingredients that you most likely already have at home! If you’re a tea drinker, then I’m sure there’s loads of black tea laying around!
• Fragrant: The smell of this tea is just out of this world and it’ll warm you up before you even start drinking!
• Healing ginger flavor: The ginger flavor runs through and through and is enjoyable till the last sip, whether your throat needs it or not.
• Easy process: When you read the instructions, it may seem like we’re doing a lot. However, most of the work is just done over the stove with water and tea boiling. Just don’t stray away to ensure that the tea doesn’t boil over!

Tips for How to Make Indian Ginger Tea Taste Better

• The longer you boil the ginger, the more intense the flavor would get in the tea. Make sure to smash it to release all the juices from the ginger into the tea.
• Tea strength will increase the longer you boil it, boiling too long can cause the tea to become bitter. 2-3 minutes works best for me.
• You require a good quality fine mesh sieve to ensure any bits of the brewed tea leaves are filtered from your serving.
• The milk only needs to come up to a simmer and not a boil. Keep stirring to ensure it doesn’t burn and keep a close eye to ensure it does not boil over.
• Double walled cups or a teapot can be helpful to keep the tea hot for a long time - especially if you drink slow.

Ingredients for Indian Ginger Tea

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD or press the “Jump to Recipe” button to get all ingredient quantities and to save the recipe for later! You can also scale the recipe based on how many cups of chai you want to make. If you’re making chai for a party, then this will help you ensure you maintain the correct ratios without having you to do any mental math!

• Water: To boil the ginger and the tea.
• Milk: Whole milk will give you a nice creaminess to the tea. I first made this with 1% fat milk, but the texture really wasn’t the same! You CAN but if you want the best results, I do really recommend you use whole milk. If you only have milk with a lower fat content, you could either reduce the amount of water you’re adding for the tea, increase the amount of milk, or add a splash of cream.
• Black tea leaves: Alternatively use black tea bags.
• Green cardamom pods: This will really add an extra fragrant touch here. In my Indian dessert recipes such as Chawal Kheer (rice pudding) or Gajar ka Halwa (carrot pudding), I love to add a sprinkle of ground green cardamom. Cardamom is just so aromatic and will further enhance the ginger flavor and the creaminess from the milk!
• Ginger: Whole ginger that will be crushed. I wouldn’t recommend you substitute with ginger powder because you won’t get as potent of a ginger flavor.
• Sweetener: Use your favourite choice of sweetener here. I’m just using simple granulated white sugar.

How to Make Ginger Milk Tea

Smash the ginger pieces in a mortar and pestle or with the side of your chef’s knife.

Then, add the ginger to a saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Boil for 4-5 minutes or until the water changes colour with a tinge of yellow.

Add the tea leaves and boil for 2-3 minutes. Lightly smash the cardamom pods and add to the tea, along with sugar (or sweetener of choice) and mix well.

Then pour in the milk and heat until it starts to steam. Once the milk starts to simmer, immediately take the saucepan off the heat and pour the milk through a fine mesh sieve into your teapot or cups.

Serve hot with your favourite snacks.

Variations to Chai with Ginger

• Sweetener: As mentioned earlier, you can use your favourite sweetener! If you want a natural option, try honey, cane sugar or jaggery if you can find it in your area.
• Milk: If you’re vegan, you can opt for a plant-based milk alternative, such as oat milk, almond milk (or perhaps you can make your own!), coconut milk, or soy milk for more protein. However, the texture and taste will differ for sure. Additionally, if you’re lactose intolerant and still drink dairy milk, then lactose-free milk will work perfectly fine, and that’s actually what I used here!
• Stronger ginger flavour: Boil the ginger for longer or add more ginger if you want it even stronger.
• Creamier chai: The ratio of milk to water I used is 2 cups of water for 1 cup of milk. You can reduce this ratio for a creamier chai.
• Stronger tea flavour: If you boil the milk for longer than indicated here, you will have a stronger chai flavour. This is also known as “Kadak” chai.
• Other spices: You could also throw in a cinnamon stick and either turmeric powder or turmeric root into your tea to further enhance the flavors and to gain additional medicinal properties from these popular spices!

What to Eat with Indian Ginger Tea

Indian Ginger Milk Tea is perfect on its own or to pair with breakfast or snacks. Here are some of my favourite breakfasts that will go really well with our chai recipe to start your day right!

• Egg Bhurji
• Sabudana Khichdi - Tapioca & Potato Fry
• Chicken Keema Paratha
• Besan Chilla - Chickpea Flour Pancake
• South Indian Rava Upma

Looking to enjoy a warm cup of chai in the afternoon with some tasty snacks? Here are only a handful of snacks that will be perfect with our chai!

• Paneer Pakora
• Delhi-Style Aloo Chaat
• Paneer Patties - Indian Cottage Cheese in Puff Pastry
• Aloo Cutlets
• Baked Paneer Jalfrezi Samosa
• Sabudana Tikki Recipe
• Air Fryer Chicken Cutlets
• Aloo Tikki Chaat

More Cozy Hot Drinks

• Easy Red Velvet Latte: As Valentine’s Day is soon approaching, this is the perfect easy pretty drink to serve your loved one!
• Starbucks Eggnog Latte: Although the holidays are over, you can enjoy Eggnog Latte any time of the year! The best part is that it only takes about 15 minutes to make!
• S’mores Hot Chocolate: Feeling chilly but want to enjoy a campfire favourite in a cup? This is the perfect drink for you! The roasted marshmallows on top make them super special!