Welcome to this moment of summer quarantine when I don’t remember why I chose to be a food blogger. I’m only making smoothies because I can throw all ingredients into a blender and call it nutrition. I swear I subsist upon sliced green apples heavily smeared with salt-and-sugar-free sunflower seed butter. The rest is a blur of salad bowls served with hummus with carrot sticks. Who wants to eat when it’s over 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside?
My youngest daughter. She can eat anytime. She’s only twelve. And all she wants all day long is iced chai tea with boba. No matter how many times I chime in with that’s too much sugar and you want boba instead of dinner? She wants iced chai tea, at the very least.
If it’s homemade, then fine. No sugar, monkfruit sweetener instead. Not that syrupy sweet chai tea mix you buy in Trader Joe’s, or the bagged chai tea blends that taste off, because real chai spice is not any of those things. If we are going to make real chai, we are going to make it from scratch. And we are going to make it with turmeric, because it looks like the other thing my daughter wants all day long, and that’s Thai tea boba. Let’s consider turmeric the better choice and add it into the chai spice mix.
I won’t ramble on about how healthy turmeric is, because I’ve already done that in my podcast episode, The Healing Power of Turmeric. But what I will tell you, is simply how to make this at home and you’ll never go and buy that sugar-laden tetra box full of chai again.
Otherwise called “golden milk” by its mainstream hipster moniker, it’s easy to whip up and call it a turmeric chai latte. Of course, you know that I use homemade almond milk, because of course I do. But don’t feel at all pressured to go that extreme if you don’t want or just can’t find raw almonds in your pantry. Go ahead and buy the almond milk, I won’t judge. If you have coconut milk, that’s a plus. But if you only have one or the other, you can still do this. I’m sure it works just as well with oat milk, or any other non-dairy milk of choice, but please, don’t use that awful non-dairy creamer they use at boba tea shops.
Turmeric lattes, aka golden milk, make a cozy bedtime cuppa or serve over ice during hot summer months. Turmeric is anti-inflammatory, plus its golden orange color is so vibrant! Mix some spices into this nourishing cup of warmth and feel its magic. Turmeric lattes, served either cold or hot, make me happy.
You will need:
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1 1/2 cups coconut milk (canned or carton)
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1 1/2 cups almond milk (DIY is best, or store-bought)
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1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
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1/4 tsp ginger (fresh or ground)
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1 cinnamon stick
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1 tbsp coconut oil
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1 pinch black pepper
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Sweetener of choice (maple syrup, monkfruit, or stevia to taste)
IN A SMALL SAUCEPAN, ADD COCONUT MILK, ALMOND MILK, TURMERIC, GINGER, CINNAMON STICK, COCONUT OIL, BLACK PEPPER, AND SWEETENER OF CHOICE.
WHISK TO BLEND OVER LOW HEAT. MAKE SURE YOU DON’T BOIL IT.
TURN OFF HEAT.
TASTE AND ADD MORE SWEETENER, TURMERIC, GINGER, ETC.
SERVE IMMEDIATELY OR POUR INTO A JAR AND STORE IN THE FRIDGE.
Notes: turmeric powder stains, so careful with spills and brush your teeth after to keep it from staining.
