Chai Venture

If you've been reading my blog since I arrived in Ho Chi Minh, you may remember my craving to find good chai in this city... mmmmm chai  :)

Warm drinks have always been comforting to me. As a child I loved hot chocolate and white hot chocolate... then in high school and college I always enjoyed going with friends to Java's and Spot Coffee in downtown Rochester, NY. In Denver, I found that I enjoyed meeting a friend to relax in a local cafe more than going out at night!

When I was packing to move to Vietnam I originally had 5 mugs that I wanted to take with me. Seriously... I knew this was ridiculous but apparently they are very sentimental to me. Each day I would try to go through my pile of things, knowing it was too much, and I would make myself take out one mug to leave behind. I ended up bringing with me just one mug (pretty good, right?!)... my brother, Lenny, gave it to me and I love it (so do my students!)...

I told myself that I would not be having many warm drinks here because it's so hot all of the time! Well... come to find out, I still love a warm drink... whether it is tea, a latte, or [sigh] chai... curling up in a comfy chair with a book or a good friend and sipping a warm drink is extremely comforting to me. I have really enjoyed seeking out fun cafes throughout Ho Chi Minh these past 2 months!
Since being in Vietnam I have bought [cringe... I can't believe I'm actually admitting this...] 5 mugs! hahaha. I think I'm making up for those that I left back in Lenny's basement in Denver.

Anyway...

Remember back a few weeks ago when I bought the "spicy" dry leaf tea at the Benh Thanh Market?

Well, I finally got around to experimenting with making my own chai tonight. I was pretty excited to try it out and then have iced chai to take to work with me in the morning!

To begin... I put milk and some of the tea into a pot on the stove. I stirred in nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom... then I strained the tea leaves in my little coffee press.

It mostly looked like milk with bits of spices floating around... I gave it a taste...

Definitely not chai.

Pretty gross actually... this experiment failed to produce the results hoped for. Big time.

I even tried adding some hot chocolate and sugar to see if I could save it by turning it into a spiced hot chocolate... nope!! Definitely still a gross, earthy tea flavor (I'm not even sure I'd call it tea).

So... I'm still in pursuit of good chai in Vietnam. Perhaps I will attempt making my own again at some point... but I must find better tea to work with. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf actually has "chai" in tea bags that is sold in cute little tins. This might be my best bet to work from... I've tried their "chai" before and it's definitely not the chai that I love and hold dear... but I'll see what I can do.

For now... I will stick to the lattes... but I will not give up!