Lavender chai latte

I’m not a pumpkin spice latte girl. I’d much rather have apple cider, hot cocoa, or a chai latte. Those flavors all say fall to me just fine. Now that I’m working in a cafe that serves a delicious lavender chai latte, and I’ve been into lavender lately, lavender chai lattes mean fall to me too.

The lavender chai latte is a sweet, warm hug in a mug. I highly encourage you to give it a go.

Lavender Chai Latte

2 teaspoons culinary lavender, crushed
1/2 cup (4 oz) chai concentrate
1/2 cup (4 oz) milk

Heat lavender and chai concentrate on medium in a saucepan until the liquid reaches a slight simmer. This should take about 3 to 5 minutes. You will see the lavender turn a darker color. It may almost look brown. At this point, turn the fire to medium-low.

Add in the milk. Heat up to your liking while stirring to prevent the milk from sticking to the pan. Strain into a mug.

For this recipe, I used Oregon Chai concentrate in the Original flavor. Okay, so this isn’t much of a recipe. I’m using a concentrate and not telling you how to make chai from combining spices. There’s just three ingredients, so it seems silly to call it a recipe.

But I have some tips for you to take this from a list of three ingredients to a recipe.

• I first tried making the latte with 1 teaspoon lavender and could hardly taste. I tried 1 1/2 and that wasn’t quite enough. 2 seems just right for me.
• Crushing the lavender is meant to bring out the oils in the lavender, and release the flavor.

One more thing: When I order lattes  from cafes, I like to get them with whole milk. I usually don’t have whole milk in my fridge at home though. I get lactose-free lowfat milk, usually. It’s easier on my stomach. To make this drink a little richer, I made it with 1 ounce of cream and 2 ounces lowfat milk. That was very good and I’ll probably make all my lattes that way from now on.

If you try making a lavender chai latte, tag me on Instagram @ecobrien22.