My-Chai - cooking recipe

Ingredients

6 cups water
1 tablespoon loose black tea leaves, not flavored (optional)
2 inches piece fresh ginger
1 sprig of fresh mint
2 cinnamon sticks
1 star anise, pod
4 green cardamom pods
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 a vanilla beans or 1/2 vanilla extract
1 teaspoon dried lavender
1 teaspoon whole cloves
honey
milk or cream

Preparation

In a kettle bring your water to a boil.
Cut off your chunk of ginger, peel it and smash it with a mallet.
Place a tea basket in your tea pot and fill it with all the ingredients except the honey and milk.
Pour the boiling water over the herbal mixture and allow to steep for 3-5 minutes. If you don't want the caffeine omit the black tea leaves but then you will need to let it steep for 5-7 minutes.
In the bottom of each mug put about 1 good table spoon of honey and about a half inch of milk or cream. Stir vigorously to dissolve the honey in the milk.
Pour the tea into the mixture and enjoy!
Additional Notes:
If you do not have a tea pot you can boil your water in a saucepan and drop the herbs into the pan to steep. Pour and strain to serve.
Also, the honey and milk amounts can be adjusted according to your individual taste.
Smashing the ginger helps it to better release its flavor in the tea. This is a great alternative to coffee after a meal and goes great with cakes and cookies.