chai | A Crafty Chai

Tag: chai

24
Jan
2013

My Day in Mugs

For those who follow my Twitter feed or my Instagram pics, you’ll know I love a good cup of tea, chai and coffee. Inspired by a post on See by Zoe, I thought I’d share my day via the mugs that I use. I know! What a fab idea. Now I love mugs & have a small addiction to buying mugs, so much so, that we’ve run out of space to buy anymore. Plus, I use the same ones, day in, day out, and very rarely use more than 5! And here they are:

Breakfast Tea Mug – Big Brown

I always have two cups of tea in Big Brown every morning. It’s a Denby Fire Chilli mug and I had two, but broke one. Sad times. It’s great for a morning cuppa because it holds quite a bit of tea & it’s a great shape for warming up.

I Heart NY – Morning Coffee

I bought this mug while in New York 10 years ago & I only drink coffee from it! It’s bigger than a lot of the other mugs we have, so it’s great for a caffeine fix. I really want to knit a mug cosy for it, because I drink my coffee at my desk & it gets cold quite quickly. But it’s one of my favourites!

The Hungry Caterpillar – Afternoon Tea

If I have a cup of tea with lunch or in the afternoon, or a chai, then this is my go to mug. It was a gift from my sister a few years ago & it’s used almost everyday. The only exception is when I have a cup of nettle tea in the afternoon & use my most recent purchase:

Pug Mug – Nettle Tea

It is true that buying a pug mug is cheaper than buying a pug & almost as cute. It’s a really lovely mug by Fenella Smith & it’s quite small, perfect for a nettle tea. Plus its got pugs on it! What more do you need?!

Scrabble Mug – Horlicks

Yep, I’m really an 80 year old woman, trapped in the body of a 32 year old! I have Horlicks most nights and it goes in my C scrabble mug. It’s a great size for an evening drink, not too big, not too small.

Out of them all, Big Brown is my favourite & yes, I form emotional attachments to everyday objects & have been know to cry over broken mugs. But, when you love tea & chai as much as I do, you need a good mug to drink it in!

19
Jul
2012

A Crafty Chai in Carnaby Street

categories: On Tour, Reviews

After quite a sleepless night in a very small hotel room, my OH & I headed out to Carnaby Street. We knew where we were going to get breakfast. When in London, there really is no other choice – The Breakfast Club. Not only do they do great choice for veggies, they do pancakes. Pancakes! My favourite breakfast food. I ordered the Veggie All American, which is pancakes, eggs, veggie sausage, mushroom & hash browns and I had a fresh orange juice too. It was perfect.

After an amazing brunch, we had a look around at some of the fab shops in Carnaby Street. Then we headed to Speakeasy Espresso & Brew Bar, where I enjoyed an amazing pot of tea & my OH had a very decent flat white. It had a really lovely atmosphere & I was given instructions on how long to let my tea brew. Not only did they serve excellent tea, in a tea pot, they knew how to make it. This is a big deal, as so many places can’t make a decent cup of tea. Speakeasy is a great place where you can sit, relax & watch the world go by. I can highly recommend it.

We then headed for Liberty where I fell in love. Twice. First, I fell in love with the stationery section. I love post-it notes and there were hundreds of different styles. Sadly, I’m pretty well stocked up on sticky notes so managed to restrain myself. But I did buy the card above – well, look at it! How could I leave it there?! The second time I fell in love at Liberty was in the haberdashery section – obviously! There were so many different fabrics & beautiful yarns there. I looked for something in the sale and was rewarded with a gorgeous Rowan pattern book for just £2. I was drawn to it because of the jumper on the front. All I need to do is find some nice but inexpensive wool to knit the lush jumper!

Finally, following a tip from @alexbw, we headed for a quick drink & snack at Sacred Cafe before making our way back to the train station. He’d told us to get a savoury muffin. Boy was he right. They were absolutely delicious. They arrived at our table toasted & with butter & were amazing. They were really filling and I couldn’t finish mine. I washed mine down with a chai & my OH had, you guessed it, a flat white (would you expect anything else?!).

All in all, we had a lovely time in London. We went, we looked around, we ate, we came home. Perfect!

05
Jul
2012

How Do You Drink Yours?

categories: Food & Drink

For anyone who follows my Twitter or my Instagram feed, they’ll know how much I love chai. It’s my favourite treat of the day. I’m always pleased to discover a café who sells chai lattes. That being said, I’ve had many different types of chai lattes – sometimes even in the same place. Some places use chai teabags & add hot milk; some places use warm milk & add a chai syrup; some places use Drink Me Chai & add warm milk. This last one is my favourite because it enables you to get the right mix of spice, creaminess & warmth.

Here’s how I like my chai:

I always use Drink Me Chai Spiced flavour at home. It’s easy & convenient. I add 4 teaspoons of the mix to my favourite mug, Big Brown, & boil the kettle. (Yes, I named my mug – what of it?!) I add about 1/4 cup of hot water to dilute the mix then start on heating the milk. I use light soya milk & it works fine, but it’s not to everyone’s taste. It does alter the taste slightly, but I’m used to it now. When I have chai in cafes, I don’t usually bother to ask about soya milk because semi-skimmed milk actually gives a nice taste. We’ve got a fancy Dualit coffee machine that enables me to heat up the milk & get a decent froth on it, something which didn’t happen with our Nespresso machine. I don’t mind a bit of foam because it helps to keep the drink warm, which is really important. But sometimes, too much foam means not enough chai!

I occasionally sprinkle some cinnamon on the top before I drink it, as it just makes it even more luxurious! I usually have a chai latte once a day – anymore than that & I’m worried that my love of chai might just grow into an addiction! There are also quite a few different flavours of Drink Me Chai: Vanilla, chocolate, mango & peppermint, but my favourite is Spiced Chai & pretty much only drink that. It’s such a warming drink that it fits perfectly with my chilly little study!

One of the biggest criticisms I have of cafés is a lukewarm chai. As you know, I’m almost always cold & one of the things I love about chai is it warms me up. So to have one that I can drink really quickly is really disappointing. A chai latte should be something that you take a break over, not something that you have to drink quickly because it’s going cold. And it shouldn’t be too milky either. I’ll order a spiced chai for a reason: I want to taste the spice!

I’d love to know how you like your chai or if you have any other chai recipes. Let me know! x

24
Jun
2012

The Field Kitchen

categories: Food & Drink, Reviews

After another busy week, I was looking forward to a catch up & some cake with a friend. Sadly, they had to cancel so my OH was challenged with finding somewhere new to go for tea & cake. He didn’t disappoint as we went to The Field Kitchen in Nettlebed.

It has a really lovely look & feel to it; quite rustic but very sophisticated at the same time. We arrived quite late in the afternoon so there were only a few cakes left. Both my OH & I opted for the carrot cake. It was delicious. The icing was very tasty & complimented the cake nicely without being too sweet. The portion was generous & I should’ve left some of mine, but I couldn’t because it was so nice! The other cake options were chocolate covered doughnuts & profiteroles. You could buy the profiteroles individually, which I thought was a nice touch. Sometimes you just want something little to go with your coffee & they would go well together. All the other food menus looked really tasty, with a few decent veggie options, that I will be going back to try!

They offer the typical tea & coffee options, and I was presently surprised to see a tub of Drink Me chai on the windowsill. Naturally I ordered that & my OH ordered a flat white. When they arrived, both were boiling hot – we both burnt our tongues a little (greedy!). Sadly, my chai was far too milky. It needed much more chai in it. My OH’s flat white was also lacking. He described it as cappuccino with very little foam. The biggest problem with the coffee was that flat whites should be served in quite small cups & my OH’s cup wasn’t. The Field Kitchen offer all drinks, including the flat white, in three sizes: regular, mug and bowl. This doesn’t work with flat whites. Similarly, if you’re making a big chai, you’ll need to increase the ratio of the chai with the increase in liquid. We were a bit disappointed with this, but I doubt this is the last time that my OH is disappointed with a flat white!