slow cooker spiced chai

I love & use my slow-cooker even more (is that even possible?) now that we have a baby. It is such a luxury to leave something cooking without having to worry about it, while I give Indy my full attention. And lets face it, I am not together enough to manage the baby & pay attention to the stove. Instead of burning down my house or seriously damaging my pots, I use my slow-cooker as often as possible.

Last Sunday, it was all rainy here, so we made chai and filled the house with the scent of delicious spices. It was pretty epic. This spiced chai made waking up at 5am all week and driving to work while it was still dark out, much more tolerable. I actually kind of looked forward to it. I used to look forward to margaritas on Friday night, now I look forward to spiced-chai at 5am? Oh boy, what’s happened to me?

I drank this with both coconut milk & heavy cream… They were both good! If you don’t plan to serve it all right away, I suggest you wait to add the cream or coconut milk, right before serving.

Serves 6 
Ingredients:
2 quarts filtered water (best not to use reverse osmosis, it doesn’t take to the tea well)
2 tablespoons loose black tea in a mesh tea holder (can sub 6-8 black tea bags)
8 cardamom pods, cracked open
12 whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
5 black peppercorns
5 slices of fresh ginger
1 star anise
2 cups of coconut milk or heavy cream
honey to taste (optional, but oh so good!)

1. Two options: Place all ingredients into slow-cooker, cover and cook on high for 2 hours or place all ingredients, except tea in a cheesecloth and tie it with another piece of cheesecloth and place the entire bundle in the slow-cooker.
2. Cook on high for 2 hours.
3. If you placed all loose spices in the slow-cooker, you will have to strain the tea when it is done cooking. Although, it is a little more work, I think it makes for a more flavorful chai. If you used a cheesecloth, remove your bundle and the tea from the slow-cooker.
4. If serving entire batch immediately, add coconut milk (or cream) and serve. If not drinking immediately, I suggest adding the cream/coconut milk, right before serving.