Vanilla chai is a spiced tea made with black tea, spices, milk, and sugar. The vanilla flavor can come from real vanilla or chemical flavoring agents. It is commonly used in desserts and frozen drinks.
Vanilla chai is a tea drink with a vanilla flavor. In some cases, this vanilla flavor can be made from real vanilla. While in other cases, it is the result of chemical flavoring agents or a blend of spices which, when blended and steeped, produce the impression of vanilla without the use of actual vanilla. Vanilla chai, like all varieties of spiced chai, is typically made from a rich, fragrant blend of black tea and spices and is usually enriched with milk and sweetened with sugar.
The term chai, in and of itself, is simply a word for tea in many cultures ranging from the Indian subcontinent to Russia. In many Western markets, however, the term chai is used to describe a particular set of teas commonly served on the Indian subcontinent. Vanilla chai is usually made in the style of one of these rich Indian spiced teas. These rich, sweet, spice-infused teas are generally known by the term masala chai in their culture of Indian origin.
Many spices are used to flavor chai. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, and pepper are all commonly used to flavor traditionally prepared chai. Chai is generally made with a rich blend of whole milk or cream and some variety of sweetener, most often the common granulated sugar. This sweet and savory concoction can have a vanilla flavor, depending on the spice blend used. More traditional blends, which include rather sharp notes in the form of pepper or cardamom, are less likely to convey this impression.
A different version of vanilla chai features real vanilla flavor or imitation vanilla. This is essentially a Western adaptation of chai. A small amount of vanilla extract can be added when making the chai, which will add a rich vanilla flavor to the finished chai. Premixed canned or bottled varieties of chai may already include some vanilla extract for flavoring.
The sweet and savory profile of these western versions of vanilla chai make them ideal for use in desserts. Vanilla chai ice cream plays to these strengths. The rich, spicy taste of the tea combined with the sweet and creamy ice cream base makes a nice parallel to the typical flavor profile of chai. Similarly vanilla chai is often used as a base for smoothies and other frozen drinks.
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