Name: Karak Chai Tea With Cardamom
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 17 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 6 cups water; 2 tbsp black loose leaf tea; 1 tbsp fresh ground cardamom (or mashed cardamom pods); 6 tbsp sweetened condensed milk; 2 tbsp sugar; 6 to 8 strands of saffron (optional)

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Karak chai tea is a chai milk black tea made with black tea, sweetened condensed milk, freshly ground cardamom, sugar, and saffron. It originated in India, however, migrated to many other regions of the world, such as the Middle East Gulf countries.

Karak chai is a delicious sweet milk tea that has hints of cardamom spices.

Ingredient Notes

Black Tea Leaves: My preference is to use loose leaf black tea, but you can use Lipton yellow label black tea as well. I explain a little more below the modifications needed if using Lipton yellow label instead of loose-leaf black tea.
Fresh Ground Cardamom: Fresh cardamom is what makes this tea so flavorful. I recommend freshly ground green cardamom pods.
Sweetened Condensed Milk: This makes the tea so delicious! The brand I use is Rainbow, but any type of canned sweetened condensed milk will work. If you would like to make this drink dairy-free, you can substitute homemade almond milk or canned coconut milk. If you omit sweetened condensed milk, you will need to add a bit more sugar.
Saffron: If you have saffron, I recommend adding a few threads to each cup.

How To Make Karak Tea

Grind the cardamom pods with a grinder.

cardamom pods blended in a spice grinder

Hint: If you don't have access to a spice grinder or coffee grinder, you can use a meat tenderizer, which is like a big hammer. Place the cardamom pods in a plastic bag. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and hit the pods with the meat tenderizer or hammer. You just want to crush the pods so that the flavors infuse into the tea.

Add the tea, ground cardamom, water, and saffron (if using) to a pot.

Boil water and ingredients on medium-high heat. If using loose leaf tea, boil for 15 minutes. If using Lipton yellow label tea, boil for 5 minutes. Add the sugar and condensed milk.

Boil for another 2 to 3 minutes.

karak chai tea added to a tea strainer pot

Strain the milk in a tea strainer.

pouring the cardamom black milk tea into a cup

Pour the tea into your favorite tea mug.

Tips and Tricks

My biggest tip for making Karak chai milk tea is to use freshly ground cardamom pods. The cardamom balances out the black tea and the sweetness from the condensed milk. I use my coffee grinder to grind the cardamom pods. A spice grinder can be used as well.

black tea with crushed cardamom in a bowl

Substitutions and Variations

Use whole milk instead of condensed milk. Double the sugar.
Add other whole spices to the tea, like cinnamon stick, fresh ginger, or star anise.

Lipton Yellow Label

The best black tea for this recipe is loose black tea, but there are a few substitutions that will work as well. Lipton yellow label is easy to find in grocery stores in the US, Egypt, and the UAE. Lipton is a strong black tea that brews in less time than loose-leaf black tea.

If using Lipton yellow label black tea, boil the ground cardamom pods for the first 10 minutes alone. Add the tea for the last 5 minutes because this tea is a lot stronger. I haven't tried making this tea with generic black tea bags, so I'm not sure how it will turn out.

black lipton yellow label loose leaf tea in a bowl

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