Decaf Masala Chai

Regular chai caffeine content

Chai is traditionally made with black CTC tea. Typically, the caffeine content in a cup of black tea will be between 50 and 90mg of caffeine per cup compared to 80 to 100mg for a cup of coffee. The total amount of caffeine will increase depending on how much loose leaf tea that you add and how long the tea is steeped. If you are avoiding caffeine while pregnant, the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) recommended range for caffeine consumption for pregnant women is <200mg per day so 1 cup of chai should be within that range. But as with any health consideration, always consult your doctor.

Decaf vs. caffeine free tea

When a tea is marked as decaf it means that the caffeine was removed from the tea whereas when a tea is labeled as caffeine free it means that the the tea never had caffeine to begin with. Teas that are decaf may have 1-2% of the original caffeine still present. If you want to ensure that there is 0% caffeine in your chai, then choose a tea variety like rooibos which is naturally caffeine free. However, for a more traditional chai taste, I prefer a decaf black tea.

How is black tea decaffeinated?

Decaf black tea is black tea that has had most of the caffeine removed via one of these decaffeination processes:

Why is decaf tea so weak?

Decaf tea tends to taste so weak and dull because it goes through the decaffeination process which tends to remove some of the essential oils and flavors found in tea.

What is the best decaf tea for chai?

Decaf black tea bags is best for customizing your chai

When it comes to decaf tea for chai, decaf black tea bags are best if you want to customize the spices in your chai with your own chai masala spice blend. Loose leaf black CTC tea is best for regular chai as it yields a strong enough tea to stand up to the spices and milk in chai. However, most loose leaf decaf teas on the market are orthodox and not CTC. You can learn more about why CTC tea is best for chai in this blog post. So for decaf tea, it is best to use tea bags which consist of a combo of small tea middlings as well as CTC tea which results in faster brew times and a stronger cup of chai.

Loose leaf decaf tea mixes are an easy alternative

Loose leaf decaf chai mixes on the other hand are a combination of loose leaf decaf CTC tea along with crushed spices within the bag. Since the spices are already mixed in, it’s harder to customize the chai to your liking. I recommend a South Asian-owned brand called Kolkota Chai Co for a well-balanced and traditional decaf masala chai mix.

How to make any chai decaf

Although this blog post is for a decaf masala chai recipe, you can make any of the other chai recipes on the blog including rose chai, cardamom chai, kesar chai, or ginger chai by using my rule of thumb conversion formula. The rule of thumb is that 1 tablespoon loose leaf black tea = 2 tablespoons of decaf loose leaf black tea (steep for x2 the time if going this route) = 8 decaf black tea bags. For example, if the ginger chai recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of loose leaf black tea to be steeped for 5 minutes total and if you have loose leaf decaf black tea, simply use 2 tablespoons of black tea and steep the tea for 10 minutes total, and if you have decaf black tea bags then steep 8 tea bags for 5 minutes.

What is Chai Masala?

This recipe is for masala chai which is a chai made with chai masala or a chai spice blend. I want folks to be empowered to make chai masala to fit their taste buds; however, you can use my recipe as a starting point. It uses fresh whole spices like cardamom for sweetness, cinnamon for warmth, cloves for bitterness, and black peppercorn for heat. Those whole spices are toasted to release their essential oils and then ground into a powder to form a flavorful chai masala.