Homemade Iced Chai Tea Latte

The Iced Chai Latte from Starbucks has been one of my favorite summer drinks for years now. It's delicious, creamy, packs a little mid-day caffeine punch, plus it tastes a little bit like a cookie. Over the past couple years though, I feel like Starbucks drinks have gotten extra sweet. Either my sweet tooth is waning or my beloved Starbs is adding even more sweetener to their already addicting dranks. It's probably a little bit of both.

Over the past couple months, I've been trying to drink less coffee during the week, but these hot summer mornings have been getting to me. An iced chai latte sounded perfect, but I knew I didn't want all the sugar.

That's when the lightbulb went off. Hello, Al. You can MAKE an iced chai latte at home. Eeeeeeasy.

The key is steeping the tea extra strong and adding a little bit of natural sweetener (maple syrup or honey) and a couple extra chai-like spices (think: cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, etc) while it's still hot. Add in the milk and let it cool, cool, cool.

So far I've only used almond milk because that's what I've had in the fridge, but I'm dying to try this with coconut milk. It would make it extra creamy and dreamy!

Fill a glass with ice, pour the tea mixture and top with more milk. Sip, sip, sip.

Pro tip: Make a big batch of the tea mixture at the beginning of the week, pour into separate mason jars and seal up tight. When you're ready to drink, pop in a couple ice cubes and the extra milk. Your future latte drinking self will be so grateful.

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Homemade Iced Chai Tea Latte

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 4 chai tea bags
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/3 cup non-dairy milk

Instructions

• Bring the water to a boil.
  
• Remove from heat and add tea bags. Allow to steep for 8 minutes.
  
• Stir in the cardamom, ginger, cinnamon and maple syrup. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Add in the milk and stir.
  
• Place in refrigerator and cool for at least 30 minutes.
  
• Serve over ice with more milk and honey or maple syrup if desired.

If you find that this isn't quite sweet enough, add more natural sweetener. I don't have a huge sweet tooth, so a little goes a long way for me, but go ahead and up the sweetness.