How To Make Starbucks Iced Tea Latte At Home:
Special Tip: You can find these directions, along with measurements, nutrition and more in the sharable recipe card in the next section!
Up next, how to make the best iced chai latte at home for just 30 calories and $1
Iced Chai Lattes Recipe
You know that I love my coffee, but sometimes I like to mix this up with chai. I love the warming and sweet flavors of all of those spices.
This iced chi latte is a great way to cool down and wake up, and its so easy to make at home. Skip that Starbucks line, and treat yourself to one of these in comfort!
Be sure to try my Spiked Chai and Chai Tea Milkshake too!
What Is Chai Latte
Chai is black tea infused with spices cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and star anise. It’s usually sweetened with honey or sugar. Mixing chai tea with steamed milk and topping it with foam makes it a latte. Chai originated in India where they steep water, milk, and spices and add it to tea. The word latté to describe this tea preparationand the foam on top of the drinkare Western additions.
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What To Serve With Chai
There are so many delicious combos with a warm cup of chai that will take your tea time up a notch. Parle-G, a sweet dunk-able cookie, is amazing with chai. So is Biscoff, but its pretty sweet so it can take away from the chai. Mini sandwiches made with vegetables like cucumbers and onions and flavored with chaat masala are also heavenly when paired with some steaming hot chai! Samosa or pakora are also commonly paired with chai, and believe me when I tell you IT TASTES AMAZING! One of my all time favorites is warm chai with some healthy Bhel Puri chaat.
Variation : Dirty Chai
If you love an iced coffee, but want a spiced tea as well, the dirty chai is the way to go! For a hot dirty chai, a shot of espresso is added to the chai concentrate and milk. For a cold drink, cold brew or iced coffee is used. To make an iced dirty chai, add ice to an 8-ounce drinking glass, then 1/4 cup of chilled chai concentrate, 1/4 cup of chilled coffee and cold brew coffee, and 1/3 cup milk of choice.
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Iced Chai Latte With Pumpkin Cold Foam
This iced chai latte with pumpkin cold foam is one of the best Starbucks fall drink recipes. Its easy to make this copycat version at home, any time of the year. Chilled, creamy chai tea with a generous topping of pumpkin flavored cold foam. Then a little extra sprinkle of pumpkin spice on top for the ultimate seasonal latte.
Starbucks lattes always taste so fancy and are addictively good, but having them every day can be pricey.
But its actually so easy to make your own at home for a fraction of the cost.
Why Is This Recipe Even Better Than Starbucks
This is not an exact Starbucks chai tea latte recipe. Its even better.
1. Sugar
When you order an iced chai latte at Starbucks, they are using a pre-made spiced syrup as their base. It includes the tea, the spices, and the sugar all in one shot, so customizing this drink gets tricky. If I order a syrup-based drink at Starbucks, I always order it half sweet, but if you order a chai latte half sweet it doesnt turn out well at all!
The spices really play a starring role with chai, and Bummer! Making this iced chai tea latte recipe at home instead allows you to spice it up while avoiding a massive sugar bomb .
2. Cost
Another great reason to make it at home is obvious: the price! If I were going to use Starbucks to fuel my love for iced chai tea lattes, Id have to figure out how to grow a money tree in the backyard first. I dont have $4-5 to spend on something that I crave daily, thats for darn sure.
3. Simplicity
Not all popular Starbucks drinks happen to be this dead easy to make at home. One of my winter faves, for example, is my Gingerbread Latte recipe, and it requires making the syrup ahead of time, as well as steaming the milk when serving. Iced tea lattes dont require steaming the milk, and you can choose to make the tea from scratch or just use pre-made chai tea bags both work.
When you have a simple recipe like this on hand, youll head out for a Starbucks iced chai latte less often.
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Health Benefits Of Chai Tea
This drink is pretty much guilt free and its a great way to curb sugar cravings with a slight sweetness without overdoing it.
Chai is black tea mixed with varying spices, most often cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger, and black peppercorns. It is the perfect balance of sweet and spicy. The teas antioxidants mixed with the healing properties of the spices make chai an undisputed health drink. For those who avoid caffeine, a cup of coffee has about 5 or 6 times more caffeine than chai.
All those benefits kind of sort of go out the window when you order a chai at standard coffee shops though.
A grande chai tea latte at Starbucks has so much sugar in fact theres a whopping 42 grams of sugar! Add in the $4 to $6 price tag and that makes me pretty excited to share with you this cheap, easy, healthy alternative.
How To Elevate Your Iced Chai Tea Latte
If you want to take your iced chai tea latte to the next level, there are a few things you can do.
Cold-Steep the Tea
First, try using cold brew chai tea for a smoother and less astringent flavor. To cold-steep the tea, simply add the tea bags to a pitcher of cold water and let it steep overnight in the fridge. This way, the tea is more mellow and the flavor is smoother.
Make Your Own Spice Blend
You can also make your own spice blend to flavor your iced chai tea latte. This is a great way to customize the flavor of your drink and make it exactly to your liking.
To make your own spice blend, simply mix together equal parts of the following spices: cardamom, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper. Once you’ve mixed the spices, add them to your iced chai tea latte, and enjoy!
Use Different Sweeteners
Another great way to customize your iced chai tea latte is to use different sweeteners. If you want a more traditional flavor, try using honey or sugar. For a unique twist, try using maple syrup or agave nectar.
Add Different Flavors
You can also add different flavors to your iced chai tea latte. If you want a fruity flavor, try adding some orange juice or lemonade. For a more decadent drink, try adding some chocolate syrup or vanilla extract. You can also use common coffee creamers and flavored syrups to flavor your iced chai tea latte.
Pre-make Tea Iced Cubes
Top if Off
Do you have a favorite iced chai tea latte recipe? Share it with us in the comments below!
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Tips To Making Low Calorie Starbucks Copycat Drinks:
- Zero calorie all-natural sweetener we LOVE this all natural sweetener. Its made from sugar cane, but has no sugar, and no calories!
- Unsweetened Almond milk cut more calories and use UNSWEETENED almond milk! You can always add more of the zero calorie sweetener if you like it sweeter!
Make a Vanilla Chai Latte you can make this a vanilla chai tea latte Starbucks copycat recipe by purchasing Vanilla Almond Milk instead of regular!
About Iced Chai Latte
First and foremost, these Iced Chai Lattes are incredible! Whenever I travel I treat myself to daily flavored teas, chai lattes, and iced coffees, but my bank account disagrees with me continuing on that trend for long term.
Instead of feeling deprived of a delicious chai latte, I make my own homemade version, and they are excellent. Creamy, sweet, and spicy. A great morning or afternoon pick me up.
Wondering what in the world I even mean by an “iced chai latte”? Well, iced chai lattes are tea-based lattes that are full of spices. You’ve likely seen them at a coffee or tea store. A chai latte is a creamy, sweet, spicy tea drink that is served over ice.
Black tea takes on the flavors of cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom while the peppercorns give the chai latte a touch of spiciness. The honey and milk mellow out the flavors to balance the recipe.
Many times they are called “Chai Tea Lattes,” but I’ve seen that the word chai means tea. So wouldn’t that be redundant? Tea tea latte… that’s definitely not right.
So I decided to title the recipe Iced Chai Latte. But call them what you want… these things are freakin’ fantastic, y’all!
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What Is An Iced Chai Tea Latte
Chai tea latte originated in India. In India, the word chai translates to tea.
A traditional chai tea latte is a combination of tea and milk. The homemade chai tea latte recipe were going to make today, and what most of us recognize as that infamous chai latte taste, is called masala chai.
The main ingredients are a blend of tea, milk, and different spices .
For an iced chai latte, you need a chilled chai concentrate, chilled milk, and ice cubes. Thats it.
The stronger chai flavor comes from the chai concentrate, which is made with warm spices and black tea. Some folks use Tazo chai concentrate but the pre-made mix doesnt taste as fresh and delicious as making the homemade version. Give it a try and tell me what you think!
Homemade Iced Chai Latte Recipe
This Homemade Iced Chai Latte Recipe is just 30 calories and costs just $1 to make!
Learn how to make a Starbucks iced chai latte at home for less calories less money and in less time!
This low calorie copycat iced chai tea latte Starbucks recipe is easy and fast, and best of all There are no lines, and you can stay in your PJs!
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Weve even supplied you with links to order the ingredients right to your home. So you can make homemade iced chai tea latte recipes all month long, without having to leave the house.
This Homemade Iced Chai Latte Recipe is just 30 calories and costs just $1 to make!
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What Makes This Recipe So Good
I shared my internet-famous, reader-favorite homemade chai tea latte recipe in 2014. The recipe starts with a homemade chai tea concentrate thats made from simple pantry spices, black tea bags, and water. Warm milk is added to the concentrate to make a classic latte. Its the perfect drink for fall and winter.
By summer, Im all about iced everything: iced coffee, iced tea, and homemade popsicles. Summer time in Florida is no joke when a warm day reaches 100+ degrees.
A couple of years ago, I took my famous hot latte and turned it into a new recipe: a refreshing iced chai. Its super easy to make either a hot or iced drink. Its just a matter of chilling or warming the homemade chai concentrate, which Ill show you how to make today, and then adding cold or hot milk and ice cubes.
What makes this iced chai latte AMAZINGis the from-scratch chai concentrate.
Pre-made concentrates or pre-mixed chai tea bags from grocery store never have the same great flavor as a fresh concentrate. By making the homemade version, which takes just 10 minutes and lasts up to 2 weeks in the fridge, youre guaranteed to make a delicious drink every time!
How To Make Iced Chai Lattes At Home
I made a whole pitcher of chai tea and just added my milk when I was ready for a latte. So to make a pitcher I boiled 8 cups of water on the stove top and added 8 chai tea bags. I let them seep for about 30 minutes and then removed them. I poured the cool chai tea mix into a pitcher and put in the fridge overnight. Dont forget to add your pinch of love.
The next morning I filled my glass half way with the cold chai tea mix and then topped it off with almond milk and ice. I stirred it around and enjoyed my first iced chai latte in my jammies. I really liked the drink before but I loved it after my first sip. Being able to make my own anytime for a fraction of the cost just rocks. Cafe coffee for pennies? That my friends, is some good coffee.
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Why Not To Say Iced Chai Tea Latte
Starbucks might call this drink an iced chai tea latte, but heres why not to add the word tea. The word chai translates to tea in Hindi, so saying chai tea is like saying tea tea.
The correct term for the Indian tea blend is masala chai. The word masala refers to a blend of spices used in cooking. Just like the word curry, a Westernized reduction of a complex blend of Indian spices, the American concept of chai diminishes a rich Indian cultural tradition. A more appropriate term here is iced chai latte.
What Is Chai Tea
Chai tea is a type of spiced black tea that originates from India. It is made with a blend of spices including cardamom, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and more. Chai tea has a rich and flavorful taste that is perfect for iced drinks. If you’ve never tried it before, we highly recommend giving it a try! Shop our Chai Tea collection today!
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How Much Caffeine Is In A Chai Latte
A Starbucks Iced Chai Tea Latte has 70, 95, and 145 mg of caffeine in a Tall, Grande, and Venti . Compare that to a Starbucks cold brew coffee with milk: it has 155, 205, and 310 mg of caffeine in a Tall, Grande, and Venti. To put that into perspective, a café latte with 2 shots of espresso has 150 mg of caffeine.
In other words, a Venti iced chai has basically the same amount of caffeine as a latte with 2 shots of espresso.
The amount of caffeine in home brewed tea can vary depending on the variety of tea and how long its steeped. But the caffeine level in my recipe should be around 60-70 mg.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Hot or Cold! This recipe can easily be enjoyed both hot or cold! For a hot latte just use the tea right after making it instead of chilling and then pour in frothed milk!
- Substitutions! A list of substitutions is included so you can easily tailor this drink to your taste and preferences!
- Make It Ahead! Make it the night before and let it chill overnight! Then you have an Iced Chai Latte you can start your busy day with!
- Saves Money! Sure, Starbucks Iced Chai Lattes are good but theyre also pricey! Make these right at home and I bet your bank account will be thanking you!
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What Else Should I Know About Dona Products
Dona is a Brooklyn-based, female-founded business. In addition to diverting a substantial amount of waste away from landfills, Dona makes their tea with single-origin and direct trade ingredients. Its important to them to build relationships with farmers and pay them fairly.
To reduce plastic waste, they use glass bottles and paper packing tape. Every time you make a Dona order, they donate $1 to Chhaya Development Corporation, which builds housing stability and improves the financial well-being of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities in New York City.
What Is An Iced Vanilla Chai Latte Taste Like
Chai tea is native to India and If youve ever had an iced chai latte, this vanilla chai latte is very similar with the addition of vanilla to give it an extra element of flavor.
The tea base in chai is most commonly made from the Assam and Darjeeling black tea.
Chai tea has a very distinct and unique flavor thats earthy, sweet and creamy. Plus, you get the caffeine from the black tea which is a great pick-me-up.
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How To Order A Vanilla Iced Chai Latte At Starbucks
If youre looking to treat yourself to a Vanilla Iced Chai Latte of your own, heres what you need to know. Firstly, make sure you order a Grande. Thats the medium size any smaller and you wont get enough Vanilla Iced Chai Latte goodness, any larger and youll be swimming in it . Secondly, be specific when ordering dont just say chai latte, ask for a Vanilla Iced Chai Latte. Thats it! Easy peasy.
Composition Of The Iced Chai Latte Recipe
Chai concentrate: As in the chai lattes regular recipes, a chai tea concentrate is made with only black tea bags and infused with masala spices like cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, black pepper, cloves and other more intense spices.
Milk: You can use cow’s milk or if like me you prefer dairy free milk like, oat milk, coconut milk or try my homemade almond milk recipe ready in just 10 minutes.
Ice cubes: Use large ice cubes or for a chai tea latte frappe version you can use crushed ice by blending the ice cubes in a blender.
Sugar and vanilla: Essential to sweeten the taste of spices and tea and to flavor your drink. I use a natural sugar like maple syrup that you can replace with honey or the sugar of your choice.
Find the quantities and all the instructions in the recipe card below in this page
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