Chai Latte Recipe
Posted Sep 02, 2026
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This delicious chai latte is made with steeped chai tea, cozy spices, and frothed milk, then naturally sweetened with honey. Learn how to make a chai latte at home and enjoy this warm, cozy drink without a trip to the coffee shop.
This warm chai latte recipe is rich, perfectly spiced, and a little sweet. This homemade chai latte delivers all that cozy coffee shop flavor (with none of the undesirable ingredients), but it’s even better because you can make it for a fraction of the cost in the comfort of your own home!
Also, this chai tea latte is so easy to make. With simple ingredients like chai tea, spices, honey, and milk, you can whip up this cozy drink in minutes—no barista skills required.
Whether you’re just waking up, taking an afternoon break, or winding down at night, this homemade chai latte is the perfect way to slow down and treat yourself!
What is a Chai Latte?
It’s not just a fancy drink from the coffee shop. Chai is a spiced milky tea that originated in India. It’s made by brewing black tea with a mixture of spices like ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves, then mixed with sweetener and milk to make a cozy drink! It’s also known as masala chai, which translated means “mixture of spices tea.”
Chai Latte: Ingredients & Substitutions
People often wonder what’s in a chai latte – so here are the ingredients!
- Black tea bags. I found a spiced chai tea that I love, and I also love this one. Or you can use Asaam tea.
- Spices. I played around with the ratios to make what I consider the perfect chai latte. You can adjust them to your tastes. You can also add black pepper – which I did not prefer in this recipe but it is often included in spiced tea!
- Honey. Adjust the amount to your tastes. You can also use sugar in place of honey.
- Whole milk. Choose your favorite milk. I prefer whole or 2%. Non-dairy milk like coconut milk is also a great choice.
How to Make a Chai Latte at Home
We’ll walk through this chai tea recipe together – and don’t forget to watch the video.
Start by brewing the tea for 10 minutes. You only need 8 ounces of strongly brewed chai tea, so I boil the water, then measure it into a glass measuring cup and add the tea bags last. Make sure to move the bags around a bit during the brew time.
Next, get the glass you want to use to drink this chai latte and start adding the ingredients. We start with the vanilla and honey.
Then add the spices.
Whisk the spices into the honey really well so you kind of create a “spicy” syrup. Then, pour the hot brewed tea into the honey/spice mixture.
Whisk until the ingredients are combined. Then, froth the milk. I love using an electric frother, but you can use a handheld whisk frother too.
Then pour the frothed milk (make sure it’s warm for a hot latte) into the tea and stir until you have a perfectly smooth and creamy chai latte!
Serve
Serve the chai tea latte immediately. You can sprinkle a little cinnamon on top for presentation! We love enjoying this cozy tea with our favorite breakfast recipes, or as an after dinner treat.
Storing a Large Batch
You can multiply this recipe, make a large batch of the spiced tea, and store it in the refrigerator. Then you’ll just need to warm it up and add the frothed milk when you want a chai latte. You could even make an iced latte with the stored chai concentrate.
Chai Latte Recipe FAQS
Yes, black tea contains caffeine, but it’s less than a cup of coffee.
The spices in this recipe include: cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cardamom. You can add black pepper or nutmeg if you’d like.
Yes you can use non-dairy milk like oat, coconut, almond or soy milk for a dairy-free version.
Yes, in this recipe we use honey, but you can sweeten the latte with maple syrup, sugar or your sweetener of choice.
Yes! Let the brewed chai cool, pour it over ice, and add cold frothed milk.
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Chai Latte Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 2 chai tea bags
- 8 ounces boiling water (1 cup)
- 1 Tablespoon honey (or sugar or maple syrup)
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 cup whole milk
Instructions
- Steep tea bags in boiling water for 10 minutes.
- In a large mug, whisk the vanilla, honey, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom together until smooth.
- Pour brewed chai tea into the mug and whisk to combine.
- Froth milk and pour into the chai mixture.
- Stir and serve!
Notes
- Black tea bags. I found a spiced chai tea that I love, and I also love this one. Or you can use Asaam tea.
- Spices. I played around with the ratios to make what I consider the perfect chai latte. You can adjust them to your tastes. You can also add black pepper – which I did not prefer in this recipe but it is often included in spiced tea!
- Honey. adjust the amount to your tastes, you can use sugar in place of honey.
- Whole milk. Choose your favorite milk. I prefer whole or 2%. Non-dairy milk like coconut milk is also a great choice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
