It’s time to ditch the watery Starbucks pumpkin chai lattes. Trade them in for this creamy iced pumpkin spice chai instead. It’s got the warmth of traditional fall spices & black tea leaves, plus a hint of pumpkin for a comforting fall drink. Whether you prefer it hot or iced, this simple recipe will make your fall mornings extra fun!
What Makes This One SO Good
- Authentic Chai Technique is top tier. Real chai is made by simmering spices and tea leaves in water to bring out the nuanced flavours. Most people are used to the chai powered stuff or those pre-made chai tea bags, but this makes a much more flavourful cup of chai.
- The Pumpkin Spice is NOT in your face. I love pumpkin spice as much as the next person, but that does not mean I want to drink a fall candle. This homemade pumpkin spice chai latte recipe draws out those the pumpkin spice flavours without making you feel sick.
- NO expensive ingredients. You probably have everything you need to make this in your kitchen already. All you need is some black tea leaves, water, milk and pumpkin pie spice.
Ingredients You’ll Need
This can be a great beginner chai recipe because you won’t need to buy a bunch of fancy ingredients or chai concentrates to make it. Here’s all you’ll need:
For the Chai Part
- Black Tea Leaves: the foundation of any chai is some good black tea leaves. I prefer loose leaf black tea leaves like Wagh Bakhri or Taj Mahal but you can definitely just cut up black tea bags as well.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice: You can buy this blend at pretty much any store, it’s just a mid of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger cloves. Or, you can just whip up some homemade pumpkin spice from scratch instead.
- Milk : whole or 2% milk always works the best for chai, but if you want to go dairy free oat milk could also work.
- Brown sugar: for the sweetener, I used brown sugar but you could also use a maple syrup if you’d like!
For the Pumpkin Cream on the chai
- Heavy Cream + Milk
- Maple Syrup or Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Optional : Pumpkin Puree
How to Make Pumpkin Chai Latte
STEP ONE : Bring a cup of hot water to a boil and add in some pumpkin spice. Simmer that on medium for 1-2 minutes. Make sure to stir it now and then to prevent it from settling.
STEP TWO : Then, add the black tea leaves and give your pot a stir. Bring it back to a low boil over medium head. Don’t try to speed this process up by turning up the heat because the longer steep is what make this so much yummier.
STEP THREE : Now, add in the milk and stir. Let it come to a boil over medium heat and use a ladle to stir well. Lower the heat and simmer for another 1-2 minutes.
STEP FOUR : Raise the heat and let it come to a second boil. This is our double boil! Stain into a cup and stir in the sugar. To make it iced, let it come to room temperate and then add in your ice.
How to Make Pumpkin Cream without condensed milk
This is a completely optional part of the recipe & I only recommend if you’re making this an iced drink. If you want to skip this, you cna also just top if with some whipped cream.
To make the pumpkin cream cold foam for your pumpkin chai latte, just add some cream, cold milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract and pumpkin spice to a cup. Froth it until you’ve got soft peaks and it’s good to go! You cna totally add in a little bit of canned pumpkin puree but it’s not at all a must.
Other Fall Drinks
- Make a batch of this homemade chai concentrate. If you don’t want to make a chai from scratch every morning, you can just whip up this chai concentrate instead and turn it into quick chai lattes that are still way better than the watered down coffee shop ones.
- Pumpkin Spice Latte Smoothie – We don’t skip breakfast over here, so if you want a pumpkin spice latte for breakfast try turning it into smoothie instead.
- A Classic Chai Latte – pumpkin spice not your vibe? Try making a classic regular iced chai from scratch (or hot!) & it still makes for a delicious fall treat.
- Gingerbread Chai
- Salted Maple Shaken Espresso
What to Serve this With
I absolutely love to pair this with this single serve microwave apple crisp.
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Authentic Pumpkin Chai Latte for One Person
Description
The BEST creamy, pumpkin spice chai latte you will ever have. It’s made with the authentic Indian chai techniques & topped with a decadent pumpkin cream.
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Chai
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk (or more)
- 1.5 tbsp black tea leaves (or cut up two black tea bags)
- 1–2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 tsp brown sugar, or to taste
For the Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam (optional topping)
- 2–3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 1 tbsp cold whole milk
- Few drops of vanilla extract
- 1–2 tsp maple syrup or brown sugar (or more)
- 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- Optional – 1-2 tsp canned pumpkin puree
Instructions
How to Make the Pumpkin Spice Chai
- Bring a cup of hot water to a boil and add in some pumpkin spice. Simmer that on medium for 4-5 minutes. Make sure to stir it now and then to prevent it from settling.
- Then, add the black tea leaves and give your pot a stir. Bring it back to a low boil over medium head. Don’t try to speed this process up by turning up the heat because the longer steep is what make this so much yummier.
- Now, add in the milk and stir. Let it come to a boil over medium hear and use a ladle to stir well. Lower the heat and simmer for another 1-2 minutes.
- Raise the heat and let it come to a second boil. This is our double boil! Stain into a cup and stir in the sugar. To make it iced, let it come to room temperate and then add in your ice.
How to Make Pumpkin Cream for Chai
- Add some cream, cold milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract and pumpkin spice to a cup. You can also add some pumpkin puree optionally. Froth it with a hand brother until you’ve got soft peaks and it’s good to go! Pour it over the iced chai
Notes
Troubleshooting Your Chai
Chai is an intuitive process and the more you make it, the better you will get. I’ve seen chai being made my whole life, and it still took me some time to get the hang of it. So don’t get stressed out and try to feel the experience.
- If your chai is looks too pale and not strong enough on the tea flavor, just simmer it longer on low heat! Every tea powder and stove is different, so it’s hard to standardize the time.
- If your chai is too strong on the tea flavor, you probably over steeped it. You can add some more milk – make sure to use warm milk. Next time, simmer is a little less or use more milk.
- If your chai is not strong on the cardamom or spices, you might be using old cardamom or simply prefer a strong cardamom flavor. Check how old your cardamom is, and if it’s recent, just add 1/2 tsp more next time. Keep adjusting until you find what you are happy with.
- If your chai doesn’t smell like anything, then its possible you’re not storing your tea leaves or cardamom properly in an airtight container, or they’re just too old.
- If your chai is too watery, you probably prefer a more milky chai. You have two options, you can either forget about the water all together and replace the initial water with milk or just can use more milk in the third step. I like my cup of chai to be very light so I prefer a 1/2 cup milk for cup of water ratio.
- If your iced chai is turning our bland, you’re probably not letting the chai cool down enough before adding in your ice. In all my iced chai recipes, I always recommend letting the chai come to room temp and adding in the sugar while it’s still hot. This way the chai stays sweet without getting watered down.