Tea, we all know it, and most of us drink it on a daily bases. There are many different kinds of tea out there, two of which are Chai Tea, and Thai tea. Both teas are made up of black tea and lots of different kinds of spices. Therefore, the two are often confused to be the same tea blend. In reality, the two are definitely different!
The main difference between Chai tea, and Thai tea is the taste. Both mixtures contain different spices. Also, Chai tea is made up of milk, water, and black tea, whereas Thai tea also contains condensed milk and sugar. Thai tea is the sweeter option. Chai tea ingredients are warming for the body.
Both teas taste amazing and will make your taste buds and stomach pretty happy. The great thing about the fact that both teas are different, can work to your benefit. Now you can either alternate the two teas or choose your favorite blend! Want to know more about both teas? Then keep on reading!
What makes Chai Different from Thai tea?
As mentioned above, Chai tea and Thai tea are two different types of tea. To give you a better understanding of the differences, we will describe both of them further.
Chai (tea)
Chai originates from India. The word Chai means tea. Therefore, when you call it Chai tea you are actually saying tea tea. Indian people drink Chai daily, making it part of their daily diet.
Chai tea is made up of different kinds of spices that are warming for the body, and soothing for the stomach. Chai tea is served all over the world and has gained popularity. Therefore most coffee cafes have a form of Chai tea on their menu.
It is hard to say what Chai tea is exactly made up off because it varies by region. Most often it contains at least four spices, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. It is often made with black tea, milk, and something to make the tea sweeter. Think of sweeteners like honey, or sugar.
Thai tea
Thai tea originates from Thailand. Thailand is not traditionally a tea nation. Therefore, people think that it might come from China, but somehow kept its popularity in Thailand, and is now served worldwide.
Thai tea has an orange color to it. This is not because of the spices that are inside the blend but simply due to food coloring. The main spices of Thai tea are cardamom, cinnamon, and star anise. This is added to a base of black tea, milk, condensed milk, and sugar.
As you can read from the ingredients mentioned above, Thai tea is much sweeter than Chai. Thai tea is also often served as cold tea. In this case, it is only condensed milk that gets added to the mixture instead of both warm milk and condensed milk or evaporated milk.
What are the Main Ingredients and Brew methods of Chai and Thai Tea?
Both Chai and Thai tea are easy to make yourself. All you will need is a few ingredients, and a stove, pot, and cup.
Chai tea brewing method
To make Chai you will need at least the following ingredients.
Ingredients
- 4 Black tea bag
- 1 piece of fresh ginger
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 cups of whole milk
- 2 cups of water
- 4 black peppercorns
- 8 cardamom pods
- 8 cloves
- 8 teaspoons sugar (optional)
To make the tea you will need to:
- Grind the spices
- Add the ginger cardamom, peppercorns, ground cloves, and cinnamon to the water and milk.
- Place the mixture in a saucepan
- Boil the mixture
- Once the mixture starts boiling remove the pan from the heat.
- Add the black tea bags
- Let the mixture sit for about ten minutes
- Add sugar (this is optional, most traditional chai’s are not sweetened)
- Pour the mixture into a cup
- Sip and enjoy
As you can probably tell by the ingredients, this mixture is heat for the body, and will leave you warm and happy on colder days.
Thai tea brewing method:
To make Thai tea you will need at least the following ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons of black tea
- Condensed milk
- Evaporated milk
- 2 small pitchers
- 4 cups water
- 1 vanilla bean
- 3 drops of food coloring
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
To make the tea you will need to:
- Add the water, vanilla, cinnamon, star anise, and cardamom into a pan.
- Bring the water with spices to a boil
- Once it starts boiling, you can remove it from the heat
- Put the black tea in a tea infuser, and add it to the hot water
- Let it sit for at least five minutes. The best is to cover it with a lid.
- Remove the lid, and tea infuser
- Strain the spices threw a sieve
- Add the sugar, and stir well
- Put the mixture inside a pitcher
- Add two teaspoons of condensed milk to the mixture
- Add two teaspoons of evaporated milk to the mixture
- Pour the mixture into the smaller pitcher
- Traditionally, you will pour the tea back into the other pitcher, and repeat this about five times.
- Pour into a glass, and add a dash of evaporated milk
- Sip and enjoy!
The idea behind putting the tea from one pitcher into the other, and repeating this a few times, is done because it helps to froth the tea and milk. This creates a creamy and frothy consistency.
How Much Caffeine Does Thai Tea and Chai Tea Contain?
It is hard to define the amount by number. Black tea contains caffeine. This means both teas contain caffeine.
The exact amount of caffeine in the tea mixtures depends on the amount of black tea that gets added. Traditionally Chai contains about 26 mg of caffeine in an 8oz serving. Thai tea contains approximately 47 mg of caffeine in an 8oz serving.
Therefore, if you want to drink less caffeine then it is best to go for Chai tea over Thai tea. In the end though, if you brew your own tea you can make it as caffeinated or decaffeinated as you want.
Compared to coffee, both teas don’t contain a lot less caffeine. To give you an idea, a standard coffee contains 95 mg of caffeine in an 8oz serving.
Is Chai Healthier Than Thai Tea?
Both chai and Thai tea contain health benefits. Traditionally in Indian, and Asian cultures spices are used medicinally. As both teas contain different spices, it can be beneficial to drink both teas.
Keep in mind that originally Thai tea uses sugar and condensed milk. Apart from that it also contains more caffeine. Therefore, people would recommend drinking Chai over Thai tea if you were to look for a healthier choice.
If you are worried about the health risks of drinking both teas, the best thing to do is to blend them yourself. This way you can brew the tea as you want, and create a mixture that works for you.
Is Chai Tea Sweeter Than Thai Tea?
As mentioned above Thai tea is sweeter than Chai tea. This is because Thai tea also contains condensed milk, and sugar.
If you don’t like to drink your tea too sweet, you can always choose to take some sugar out or not add any sugar at all.
Frequently Asked Questions:
For something to be vegan, it is not allowed to contain any dairy ingredients. Traditionally Thai tea is made with milk, and condensed milk. Therefore, Thai tea is not vegan.
If you want to drink Thai tea, but are vegan there are options out there. Instead of adding cow milk, you can also add almond, coconut, or soy milk for example. Nowadays you can also find vegan condensed milk in the supermarkets.
Thai tea is much more than just black tea. As you can read above it contains many different ingredients, one of which is black tea.
Black tea is a (black) tea leave added to water. There are different kinds of black tea on the market. The most common kind is the Assam tea leaves.
Thai tea contains different kinds of spices, milk, condensed milk, and black tea. Thai tea is a tea mixture, Black tea is not.
My last thoughts
After reading the article, we now hope that it has become more clear what the differences between these two tea kinds are and that we are interested in trying them both yourself.
If you want the true taste of both these incredible tea you will need to go for a trip to either India, or Thailand. Both teas get served on the streets in their traditional country and are part of their daily diets.
We are curious to hear which tea blend you like best, and what spice mixtures you have tried!
Note: This is a reboot of a popular article we wrote. If you want to see our original version you can find it here.
