Kat's Kitchen

If you are a Starbucks chai lover and you buy an iced or hot chai latte more than once a week, let this recipe be your sign to stop overpaying for this drink at Starbucks, and start making your own Chai Lattes at home!

I will say, I have been guilty of allowing myself to become addicted to the Starbucks chai latte in the past, but once I found out how easy it was to make the drink at home, my jaw dropped. Literally the only ingredients in a Starbucks chai latte are:

MILK, ICE, CHAI TEA CONCENTRATE

THAT’S IT!! So I set out to find the best chai tea concentrate that tastes the most like Starbucks, and I pinky promise, it’s a good one! Let’s dive in!

Ingredients You’ll Need to Make a Starbucks Chai Latte

• Chai Concentrate: I’ve tried a lot of chai concentrates in my day, and the one I’ve found that is the closest to Starbucks, is the Oregon Chai Extra Spicy Super Concentrate. It’s the most concentrated mixture I’ve tried and perfectly mimics the spiced chai flavor in the Starbucks chai concentrate. Note if you’re using other chai concentrates, be sure to follow the recommended concentrate to milk ratio on the container as they all differ. Other chai concentrate runners-ups include:
  • Trader Joe’s Spiced Chai Black Tea Concentrate (very close second place)
  • Tazo Classic Chai Latte Concentrate
  • Tazo Tea Organic Chai Concentrate
  • Oregon Chai Original Chai Concentrate

• Milk: Starbucks uses 2% milk in the standard recipe. I personally like to use oat milk with my chai lattes, but absolutely feel free to use whatever milk you prefer! My favorite oat milk options include:
  • Oatly Barista Edition Oat Milk
  • Chobani Extra Creamy Oat Milk
  • Mooala Organic Barista Oat Milk

• Ice: You need ice cubes for an iced version of this drink. If you want to make a hot chai latte, you do not need any ice.
• Optional Toppings: I like to add a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg for an extra touch of flavor!

How To Steam Milk For a Hot Chai Latte

All hot lattes require steamed milk as one of the ingredients. To steam milk at home, you have a few options:

1. Steam Wand: If you have an espresso machine with a steam wand attached to it, watch this Milk Steaming Video Tutorial for how to steam milk! You simply add milk to a milk frothing pitcher, insert the tip of the steam wand into the milk, and create air bubbles, heat and texture to create perfect, velvety steamed milk at home!
2. Electric Milk Frother: Add your milk to an electric milk frother, and select the hot setting. The milk frother will heat the milk as well as create a thick and foamy texture. The texture will be a little different than a typical steam wand, but it’s very similar and pleasant, and a great option if you don’t have an espresso machine with a steam wand.
3. Handheld Milk Frother: Add cold milk to a large coffee mug and place the mug in the microwave for 60 seconds. Alternatively, you can heat up milk in a pot on the stove until warm, just make sure to constantly stir it so it doesn’t burn. Once your milk is warm, insert a handheld milk frother into the warm milk. Froth the mixture until the milk doubles in size and becomes bubbly and frothy, and you have steamed milk for your hot latte!

Note, for an iced chai latte, you do not need to warm or steam the milk. Simply skip this step, and use cold milk straight from the fridge.

How To Make an Iced Chai Latte At Home

1. In a cup, combine chai concentrate, milk, and ice, and enjoy! (Yes, it’s that easy)
2. Optional: top with a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, and enjoy!

How To Make a Hot Chai Latte At Home

1. Steam your milk using a steam wand, aerroccino, or microwave milk for 60 seconds in the microwave and froth with a handheld milk frother until foamy.
2. Optional: add chai concentrate to a mug and warm in the microwave for 30 seconds.
3. Combine the chai concentrate and steamed milk into a cup/mug.
4. Optional: top with a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, and enjoy!

Popular Toppings and Additions

• Top with whipped cream. This gives the chai latte an extra level of creaminess and sweetness.
• Add Brown Sugar Syrup. If you’ve never tried a chai latte with brown sugar syrup, you have to give it a try! The combination of flavors is incredible!
• Add a shot or two of espresso. Make this a dirty chai with an extra caffeine kick by adding a shot or two of espresso.
• Make this into a chai frappuccino. Simply add all the ingredients for an iced chai latte along with 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum to a blender and blend until smooth.
• Top with cold foam. For cold foam, combine the following in a cup: 1 tablespoon of syrup, 2 tablespoons of milk, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. The syrup flavor you use will determine which flavor cold foam you want: for vanilla cold foam, use vanilla syrup. For pumpkin cold foam, use pumpkin flavored syrup, etc. Froth the mixture together using a handheld milk frother, and then pour the cold foam over the chai latte!

How Can I Make This Lower Sugar?

For a lower sugar or sugar free chai latte at home:

• Use a low sugar or zero sugar chai concentrate option.
• Steep chai tea bags in hot water and then add your choice of low calorie/low sugar sweetener, or skip the sweetener altogether.
• Use unsweetened almond milk.
• Use a lower sugar chai latte mix like this one by Kola Goodies.

What Ratios Does Starbucks Use?

Iced Chai Latte

	TALL	GRANDE	VENTI
CHAI CONCENTRATE	3 PUMPS	4 PUMPS	6 PUMPS
MILK	6 OZ	8 OZ	11 OZ

Hot Chai Latte

	SHORT	TALL	GRANDE	VENTI
CHAI CONC.	2 PUMPS	3 PUMPS	4 PUMPS	6 PUMPS
MILK	4 OZ	6 OZ	8 OZ	12 OZ

Note, each PUMP is equal to 1/2 ounce. This may also vary based on which pump you use.

Various Chai Latte Methods

The chai latte making method that is the closest to Starbucks, is adding a few pumps of super chai concentrate to milk, just like how Starbucks does it. However, there are various other methods you can try to best fit your taste preference, as well as your budget. Let’s walk through the different methods.

Super Chai Concentrate + Milk

Add 4 pumps chai concentrate with 8 ounces of milk. Use cold milk for an iced version, and steamed milk for a hot chai latte. Add ice for an iced chai latte, and enjoy!

Regular Chai Concentrate + Milk

Add equal parts chai concentrate and milk in a cup. Use cold milk for an iced version, and steamed milk for a hot chai latte. Add ice for an iced chai latte, and enjoy!

Note, some chai concentrates recommend a 1:2 ratio of concentrate to milk rather than a 1:1 ratio, so keep that in mind, and modify based on your preference!

Chai Tea Bags + Milk

Steep 2 chai tea bags in 4 ounces of hot water to create your own unsweetened chai concentrate at home. Steep for 30 minutes, and then squeeze out any extra liquid from the tea bags, and discard them. Sweeten the chai concentrate with your choice of sweetener (sugar, maple syrup, honey, stevia, vanilla syrup, brown sugar, etc), and then add 4 ounces of milk.

Note, I recommend 2 tea bags for every 4 ounces of water. For a larger chai latte, do 4 tea bags with 8 ounces of hot water, or 6 tea bags with 12 ounces of hot water, and so on!

I like to do a 1:1 ratio of chai concentrate to milk with this method, but feel free to modify based on your preference.

Chai Tea Latte Mix + Hot Water

Pour the contents of the chai tea latte mix into a cup, and pour 8 ounces of hot water over the top. Stir to fully saturate all the powder, and let the mixture steep for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, stir again, and then sift/strain the mixture to separate the powdered mix from the latte, and enjoy!

This option is great if you don’t have any milk on hand, or if you’re looking for a non concentrate option. I like the taste of the Kola Goodies Masala Chai Latte Mix, but there are many others on the market!

Homemade Chai Mix

You can absolutely make your own chai mix from scratch. This is not my area of expertise, but it is an option for those who are interested. You can find an abundance of recipes online.

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More Chai Recipes To Try

Protein Banana Chai Muffins

Blended Chai Kefir Latte

Viral Starbucks Pumpkin Chai Latte

I hope this recipe showed you just how easy it is to make an iced or hot Starbucks Chai Latte at home! I promise, the products and tips I share in this recipe will help you recreate an identical version at home, for much cheaper than Starbucks.

Let me know if you give this recipe a try and what you think!