Kesar Chai Saffron Chai

Ingredients

Black CTC tea - It’s important to use black CTC tea for a strong cup of chai. You can learn more about this type of tea, its substitutes, and why it makes the best cup of chai in this detailed blog post. However, if you want to skip right to the brand recommendation, I suggest Red Label for your chai needs. Saffron Water and Milk - I use a 1:1 ratio of milk to water in my chai for a creamy result. Tweak the ratio for your perfect cup. Sugar

What is saffron?

Saffron that is used in cooking are the stigmas or the female portion of the saffron flower. It has a floral, sweet, and delicate taste and helps dye dishes a light yellow color. You can learn more about saffron in this blog post all about this ingredient.

It is important to bloom saffron

When using saffron, it is important to bloom the saffron in water to help the saffron release its yellow color and aroma. Saffron has a hard time blooming when fat is present so it is best to do it in water. For the kesar chai, we can simply bloom the saffron in the boiling water at the same time as the tea granules.

Kesar chai vs. other chais

Kesar chai features only the one spice which is saffron whereas masala chai is made up of many spices. Kesar chai uses whole spices for a delicate chai whereas masala chai uses a chai spice blend to create a very spice forward drink. Kesar chai is floral which is similar to rose chai but is much more delicate compared to a spicier ginger chai.

What pairs well with kesar chai

Kesar chai is a delicate chai that I love serving at fancy Indian tea parties. My two favorite things to pair with this tea are chai sugar cookies and kaju katli which is a diamond shaped cashew fudge.