Chai Tea

My parents, like most Kurds, drink black tea three times a day...at least. You have tea with your breakfast, after lunch, and after dinner. In fact, a meal is not a meal unless you have tea right after. My parents like the "Ahmed Tea" blend, which you can find in Middle Eastern grocery stores and certain Walmarts.

Kurds make tea a little differently than Americans. First you get a tea kettle, add water, then add tea leaves, not tea bags. These days some people use a combination of both. They get a very fragrant tea and a more mild tea, and add them both to the pot. Sometimes a Cardamom pod or two is added. Then the pot is put on the heat, and you take it off as soon as it boils. Put a couple of teaspoons of sugar in a tea cup, and pour the tea.

I like my tea a little differently. I make this chai like tea on cold winter mornings before I drive off, and it keeps me alert, awake, and warm!

Ingredients:
1 cup of water
1 black tea bag(lipton, earl grey, breakfast tea, almost anything goes)
2 Splenda packets
2 Cardamom pods
1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of fragrant black tea leaves (usually found in cannisters, I use Ahmed Tea)
1/4 cup of milk

First, add the water to a large mug, and add two Cardamom pods.

Add the teabag, and one teaspoon of tea leaves.

Then add the cinnamon.

Put the mug in the microwave and cook for 2 minutes. Once its done, add some milk, and cook for two more minutes.

Extract the tea bag and throw away. Get another mug, put a strainer on the top, and pour the tea through the strainer so you can get the tea leaves. Then, enjoy!