Railroad-Style Chai - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 cups water
1 tablespoon fennel seed
4 whole cloves, or more to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom seeds
2 cups whole milk
4 black tea bags, or more to taste
1 tablespoon white sugar, or to taste

Preparation

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan; add fennel, cloves, and cardamom. Continue boiling water for 3 minutes.
Stir milk into the water and return mixture to a low boil; add tea bags, reduce heat to low, and boil until the tea has a strong, but not bitter flavor, 2 to 3 minutes.
Strain tea into 4 tea mugs; sweeten with sugar to individual tastes.