Masala Chai!

I've been making my own masala chai (spiced tea, मसाला चाय) from this Nik Sharma recipe, using his chai masala (tea spice) recipe with a few modifications.

Spice blend:

• 1 tsp ground ginger (or minced ginger)
• 6 green cardamom pods or 1 quarter tsp cardamom seeds (plus a bit)
• 3 whole black peppercorns
• 3 whole cloves
• ½ tsp whole fennel seeds
• 1 in/2.5 cm piece cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp ground cinnamon)
• ½ tsp ground star anise, or one whole pod

Grind up the spices in a mortar and pestle. I grind the clove and peppercorns first, then do the fennel seeds because the cloves have a lot of oil. I put everything in a jar and shake it up to mix them together.

When you're ready for tea:

• Add 1 tbsp of Assam loose leaf tea and all the spice mix to 2 cups of water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Add 1 tsp of agave syrup or maple syrup.
• Add 1 cup of whole milk, bring back to the boil, boil for a minute, then take off the heat and sit for a minute.
• Strain and serve!

(My modifications from the original recipe:
Halve the quantities of most of the spices, skip the black cardamom, only use 1 tsp of ground ginger, and use ground star anise instead of a whole pod)