Sharing Yogi Tea after yoga class is a wonderful part of the Kundalini Yoga tradition. For as long as I've taught classes, my house has had the wonderful scent of Chai floating through it at least a few days every week!

Inevitably, I am asked for the recipe... So, here it is - with some fun options to enjoy it all of the time!

The Official Recipe:

• 8 cups water

• 15 whole cloves

• 20 green cardamom pods

• 20 black peppercorns

• 3 cinnamon sticks

• 8 slices gingerroot (about 2 inches)

• 1/2 tsp black tea (or a teabag)

• milk and natural sweetener

The Official Steps:

1) Bring water to boil.

2) Add cloves and let them dance for one minute.

3) Add cardamom pods (to better release flavour, crush or split pods), peppercorns, cinnamon sticks and ginger root.

4) Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours

5) Add black tea (can use decaf).

6) At this point you can cool the tea, strain it and refrigerate.

Making Tea for Class

When I cook a batch for class, I plan to fill about 3 thermoses... So, I use more water, more ginger and a few more of each of the ingredients. (You'll know after a few batches whether you had enough ingredients for the water you used.)

I usually cook the tea the night before class. I boil the water, add the bits, and let it simmer for about an hour. From there, I turn the heat off, cover it, and let it steep overnight and all the next day. (It also turns out wonderfully if I cook it in the morning and let it steep all day. I'm just often busier in the morning than I am in the evening.)

Before class, I strain the tea, return it to the pot and bring to a low boil.

Then, I turn off the heat, add milk and pure maple syrup, fill up my thermoses and off to class we go!

For Personal Use:

If you would like to enjoy this beautiful tea any time, just follow all the instructions above, strain the tea and put it in bottles in the fridge.

When you'd like to have a warm cup of chai:

• Pour some tea into a pot (I don't have a microwave... so I don't know how this would work there)

• Add a tea bag or a tea infuser of black tea (The black tea adds the most wonderful body to the tea! I don't put it in the big batch for class because my classes are normally at night and most people don't want caffeine that late in the day.)

• Heat it up on the stove.

• Add your favourite milk and natural sweetener

• Enjoy. 😊