Coconut Chai - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 quarts water
2 cinnamon sticks
8 -10 cardamom pods
8 -10 whole cloves
6 -8 peppercorns
3 tablespoons loose leaf black tea (or 3 tea bags)
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds extracted and reserved

Preparation

In a large pot bring 2 quarts of water to a boil over high heat.
While the water is heating, take the cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods and cloves and roughly grind or chop them. Use a coffee grinder designated for spices for a couple of pulses.
Add the spices to the boiling water, along with the peppercorns and simmer for 10 minutes.
In the meantime pour the coconut milk, coconut sugar and vanilla bean and seeds into a small saucepan simmering over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted. Do not let the mixture boil. Remove the vanilla bean pod.
After ten minutes remove the water from heat and add the tea. Let sit for 4-8 minutes (depending on how strong you like your tea) and strain out the tea into a pitcher. Add in the coconut milk mixture and serve.
TIPS: for a stronger chai, grind the spices finer and for a mild chai leave the spices whole. To extract the beans from a vanilla pod, take a sharp paring knife and run it down the center of the pod to open up the bean. Scrape the bean with the knife and add the beans to the coconut milk. If you can't have caffeine then substitute a rooibus tea for the black tea.