Boston Marathon and David's Tea - The Chai Collection

I was in Boston last week. Boston is such a neat city, besides all the history of the place there are so many things to see and do there. Whenever I get a chance to go to Boston I take it. While I was in Boston I took a walk over to the David's Tea store on Washington Street, the staff was friendly and I was relieved to read that they are safe. I saw signs for the Boston Marathon and even though I am not into sports I thought the Marathon would be something interesting to see.

I am deeply saddened by what happened at the Marathon. Three people killed, including an 8-year-old boy, so many injured... Such a thing should never happen.

Of course there are already rumors circulating about the Marathon bombing. Please verify before you click share or forward. Snopes and ThatsNonesense already have pages up on the Boston Marathon. Also there will probably be fake charities run by scam artists using the Boston Marathon so be careful who you donate to. The One Fund is a genuine charity set up to help the victims.

Chocolate Chai

All out of cocoa mix so I made chocolate chai this week. Following recipe is for about two 12 oz cups.

Vanilla chai

• 1 1/2-2 cups water
• 1-1 1/2 cup milk
• 3 tsp chai tea (I prefer vanilla chai) or 2-3 chai teabags or put together your own chai tea
• About 3 tsp loose tea leaves (or 2-3 teabags) I prefer black
• The following spices - about a 1/4-1/2 tsp of each (Feel free to leave out anything you don't like or most likely do not have):



Cinnamon chips

• cinnamon (I prefer cinnamon sticks or chips over ground cinnamon)
• ginger (Fresh will be hotter, but dried or ground will do)
• cardamon
• nutmeg
• peppercorns
• clove
• vanilla (extract will do, piece of vanilla bean if you have it) vanilla helps to bring out the chocolate taste

• 2-3 tbs powdered baking chocolate (Or hot chocolate mix would be even better, but I don't have any tonight) 
• 2-3tsp sugar and/or 1-2 tsp honey 

You'll also need a tea strainer, or rig up something to strain out your chai, any kind of mesh strainer or a coffee filter and funnel. I assume anyone reading this has a pot big enough to hold 4 cups of water. 

1. Set the water in a pot on the stove at a medium heat. Add the chocolate, and if you're making the chai from scratch add the spices at this step. 
2. When the water starts getting hot (Starting to steam) add the tea leaves. 
3. When the water starts to steam add the milk, you can also add the sugar/honey at this step. Or you might want to hold off and add the sugar/honey to your cup.
4. Keep the chai at a medium heat until it just starts to boil. Of course if you're like me you'll turn your back for 10 seconds and when you turn around it will be boiling over and making a mess of the stovetop. If you added the sugar/honey at step 3 it will be extra sticky. 
5. Strain the chai into cups. If you are not wiping the sticky mess off your stove right now add the sugar/honey to your chai now. 
6. Caution: Chai will be hot enough to burn your lips, tongue and if you swallow it will burn your throat. Sip carefully until it cools. Do not sue me because you scalded yourself. 

I thought it would be fun to add a candy cane to my chai. I even had the foresight to unwrap it first. The crook was broken off so it was less visually appealing. Unsurprisingly the chai was so hot it melted the candy cane really fast and I got to watch it slowly sink into the chai like a giraffe in quicksand. I do not recommend adding a candy cane to chai, though it did give a nice hint of peppermint.

Cinnamon Ginger Hot Chocolate

Cinnamon and ginger tea

Well here's a good hot chocolate for when you really want to warm up, cinnamon and ginger hot chocolate. I make it pretty much the same as I make cinnamon hot chocolate only instead of 1 tsp cinnamon chips I use about 3/4 tsp cinnamon chips and 1/4 tsp chopped ginger. Ginger is really strong stuff, next time I might use a little less ginger and a little more cinnamon.

Cinnamon and ginger hot chocolate

The cinnamon and ginger tea was noticeably paler than the cinnamon tea. The cinnamon & ginger tea alone was a  great drink. Not at all bitter or too hot, it did not even need any sugar. Use it for a hot chocolate and it will warm you through.

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

Once Upon a Time has made hot chocolate with cinnamon famous but I have been drinking it that way for years before the show first aired.

First couple of times I made hot chocolate with cinnamon I made the mistake of using ground cinnamon. Ground cinnamon in drinks does not work very well, since it's powdery people assume it will dissolve in water- it does not. Ground cinnamon in water is slimy, it's gritty, it will float on the surface where you can inhale it. If you accidentally inhale ground cinnamon it is only slightly more pleasant than accidentally inhaling ground pepper. If you still cannot imagine what that is like go to your spice rack, pop open a few bottle and stick your nose in. When you regain your breath and your vision clears come back here and read about how to make cinnamon hot chocolate that is not terrible.

What you need:

• Cinnamon - at least one stick or a teaspoon of cinnamon chips (preferred - not the cinnamon chips you use for baking scones but chipped cinnamon bark) or ground cinnamon
• Favorite hot cocoa mix - or whatever cocoa mix you have in your house
• 2 mugs
• 8+ oz of freshly boiled water
• Tea strainer or something to strain out the cinnamon bits

Cinnamon sticks are probably the easiest to use, not just for hot chocolate but also hot apple cider, just put the stick in with the hot liquid, the longer it sits in there the stronger the cinnamon taste, just take the stick out when it's as strong as you like or drink it with the cinnamon stick still in there.

 

Cinnamon tea

I found an even better way to make cinnamon hot chocolate, I start off by making cinnamon tea. You might be able to make cinnamon tea with ground cinnamon, but straining will be messy. I got a good deal on cinnamon chips. Take 1 rounded teaspoon of cinnamon (more if you want it stronger, but 1 tsp was enough for me)  and add a cup (approximately 8 oz) of freshly boiled water. Let it steep for at least ten minutes, I once let it steep overnight and it was awesome.

Cinnamon hot chocolate

 If you have a tea strainer like I do just take out the cinnamon chips and pour it over the cocoa mix in a second mug. Whatever you do strain out the cinnamon before you add it to the cocoa mix - it'll be a sticky mess to strain the cinnamon out after mixing it in the cocoa. If you like adding milk and marshmallow to your cocoa go for it. A creamier cinnamon hot chocolate might be possible by steeping the cinnamon in hot milk but I can only imagine what a mess that will make and have not yet attempted to try it.