Authentic Chai - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 saucepan water
18 black peppercorns
18 cardamom pods
1 medium cinnamon stick
3 cloves
8 slices fresh ginger (you don't need to peel it)
1 1/2 cups milk, divided
2 tablespoons black tea, like Taj Mahal
2 1/2 tablespoons unbleached cane sugar

Preparation

Start to heat the water to boiling.
In the meantime, cut each peppercorn in half with a knife and crack open each cardamom pod by biting it or smashing it.
Put all spices and ginger in the pan. Boil about 5 minutes or until the water is light brown colored from the spices.
Add 1/2 cup of the milk and the tea. Then stir in the sugar making sure it melts.
Add the rest of the milk and heat to almost boiling for a couple more minutes.
Depending on your taste, you can add more or less milk or sugar to the recipe.
Strain the mixture into glasses and taste authentic chai from the Himalayas!