Homemade Chai Spiced Coffee combines a few fabulous spices and gives you that sweet-spicy coffee that tastes like Fall in a cup!
Let’s talk Trader Joe’s for a moment, shall we? I feel I am the only person who has never ever ever lived near one of these fabulous stores. Alas, this will be changing soon (and believe me, I’m counting down the days). I feel like I may be one of the crazy people standing first in line Black Friday-style just to get in and snatch up the favorites I’ve never had access to. Cauliflower gnocchi, great organic options for less, the wine, the chocolate, and of course the chai-spiced coffee. Fun fact: I’ve never actually tried the coffee, but the moment I heard about it I knew I had to get in on that action. Hence the recipe!
I’ve been mentioning it for a while on Instagram, but I have been doing a lot of soul-searching when it comes to my blog and other online businesses. I want this blog, and anywhere you visit me online, to be a place of relatable inspiration. By that I mean that you can see a normal gal (me) (aka not a super model) (aka a lady that’s willing to share the hard with you) who’s doing her best to live a beautiful life. I want you to leave encouraged and inspired to add a little more beauty, or a little more health, or a little more joy to your life…wherever you are. I’m still working on how to do all of that, but what I did start doing is creating an actual content calendar with some really exciting things on it, and I’ve put together some Amazon lists so that you can see exactly what I use in my daily life.
It’s funny, for years I felt lost and like I didn’t have anything to share anymore…a girl can only make so many recipes, you know? But thanks to Beautycounter and my journey to living the healthiest life I can I feel much more empowered to create again. It won’t always be recipes (although I love that, so there will definitely be a good number thrown in there), but will also be focused on my journey to minimize our stuff, create a haven in our home, fitness, clothes that I actually wear, business inspiration and hacks, and more. I’m finally feeling really confident about what you’ll be seeing more and more here on Heather’s Dish, and can’t wait to share more as I roll it out!
LET’S MAKE CHAI SPICED COFFEE!
A few quick notes on this homemade chai spice:
- Yes, I realize that these quantities and combinations may not be what you find in a bag of chai tea. The point is to simply make something delicious that you can sprinkle in with your coffee grounds to give yourself a fabulous flavored beverage without buying artificially flavored coffee at the store. Bonus if you use organic spices (I love the organic ones from Walmart – great quality and inexpensive!)
- You will absolutely need to make sure you don’t add too much with your coffee grounds, and even then I wouldn’t brew a full pot of coffee. The spices are so finely ground compared to the coffee that the water sits in the filter for longer, giving it an opportunity to overflow. Don’t say I didn’t tell you!
- I usually prefer my coffee black, but this definitely tastes better with a little sweetener or milk of some kind. That cinnamon – it’ll dry your mouth right out!
- In the same vein as #2 up there, I like to sprinkle my spices on the top and to a side…not directly underneath the water spout of my coffee maker. This helps a lot!
- Feel free to sprinkle this chai spice in everything! It’s great for coffee, but would be amazing in a streusel, or sprinkled into some pumpkin pancake batter. The sky is the limit!
HOMEMADE CHAI SPICED COFFEE
For the spice mixture:
- 2 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp ground cardamom
- 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cloves
- 1 Tbsp ground coriander
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
Whisk together and store in an air-tight container.
For the coffee:
This isn’t really a recipe as much as it is a process. Just make your coffee in a standard coffee maker like you normally do, but add 1 tsp of the chai spice mixture to the ground coffee for every 4 cups you’re making. Be sure to hang out in the kitchen while it’s brewing if you want your olfactory glands to thank you! Sweeten and add milk/cream as desired.
Can you make it in a French press?
Hey Judith! I can’t 100% speak to this since I haven’t tried it. My initial reaction is that using powdered spices wouldn’t be the best idea as they can go through the mesh in a French press. If you had whole spices, though, that might work!
I’m a chai tea drinker trying to find out if I could combine my love for chai with coffee. Thanks for this recipe, and your article had me smiling throughout 🙂
Thanks for coming up with this recipe! I’m going to try it tomorrow as I’m trying to cut sugar out of my coffee (tried vanilla extract, date sugar, date paste…to no avail). I do chai tea in the afternoon which is sugar free and delish without added sugar. However, tea is not doing for me first thing in the am. So excited to make chai coffee, finally!
Hey TJ! I hope you love it!
I’ve been using you recipe for awhile now. I’m making a new batch today and only now read how much you suggest using per cup. I have little 4 cup coffee maker which only makes about 1-1/2 mugs. What volume cup are you using?
Thanks – Kathie
Great question! I do this for 8 cups, so for your coffee maker I’d probably use half the recipe.
Tried this in our drip coffee maker, it plugged the filter, water ran out top and we had a mess to clean up! Smelled good though 🙂
Can you add this spice recipe directly to the coffee instead of brewing it into the grounds?
You can, but it won’t dissolve into the coffee so you’ll end up with a dryness from the spices rather than a smooth cup. If that doesn’t bother you I say go for it!
Thank you
I’ve never been to a Trader Joe’s, or even seen one, but I love Chai and coffee so I can’t wait to try this. I use vanilla almond milk since I can’t digest milk, but I think the almond milk will be perfect with this!
A word of caution: I made this and the spices clogged up the gold mesh filter on my automatic drip machine. The water overflowed the filter and it wasn’t pretty!!! This might work fine with paper filters. I switched to brewing it in a French press, which worked beautifully. I used less than 1 tsp. spice per cup–maybe about 2/3 of that.
This tastes very much like Trader Joe’s Wintry Blend coffee (or something like that–can’t remember the exact name), which they sell, or at least used to sell, beginning around Thanksgiving and going through the winter months.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! My husband stopped by TJs the other day to see if they had the Chai coffee out (it was ‘seasonal last year’) – and they told him they’re not carrying it this year. Can’t wait to try this out! 🙂
You’re more than welcome Christina! I hope you love it!
Woohoo!!! I’m so excited I found this!!! I’ve been looking for clean spiced chai creamer recipes and haven’t really found much. This is perfect! I can just add cream and natural sweetener! I just mixed up a batch… but I didn’t have cardamom or coriander lol so I substituted the cardamom with cinnamon and nutmeg and the coriander I’m leaving out until I can get some. Thank you so much for this recipe!!! 🙂
Blessings!
I’m so glad you like this Rachael!!! It’s definitely a chai-spice time of year 😉
I am so thankful for this post! TJ’s Chai coffee is my favorite coffee to used for iced coffee and I went to TJ’s today only to discover they no longer carry it! I was despondent until I discovered your post. I’m crossing my fingers that this is just a good as TJ’s! Thanks so much for sharing!
I heard they don’t carry it anymore! I never got to try it, but I think this version can hold me through 😉
Just found out TJ;s has discontinued carrying this coffee. My very favorite. Will try your recipe…thanks
I love Chai spices – will have to try this for sure!
Thanks for this recipe! I had everything except cardamom in my spice cabinet but I fixed that this afternoon. I am drinking a cup right now and it’s fabulous! I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight but it’s worth it for how tasty this is 🙂 Thanks again!
I had an awesome maple chai latte recently. I’m going to try this recipe sweetened with maple syrup and see if I can replicate that. The maple flavor really added a nice extra element.
maple sounds perfect with chai!
So sad about not being near a Trader Joe’s :(, though truth be told, I don’t get there much anymore now that I’ve got two small ones in tow. I’ve been thinking about trying homemade chai, and this sounds perfect. Thanks for the recipe, Heather!
while i can’t wait to have more kiddos it’s crazy thinking about going to a store with more than one at a time – you’re a brave woman! 🙂
Oh you are going to hate me but I have two trader joe’s within walking distance and I’m in there at least a couple days a week. Come for a visit!
Oh Sylvie. I would love to visit! 🙂
Fabulous! And I’ll send you a can of the real deal if you want to do a side-by-side…
mmmmmm…that would be amazing! can you imagine the caffeine high? 😉
I used to use a chai tea mix for chai cupcakes and can no longer find the brand because it was discontinued. ( I worked in a cupcake shop and now have my own business). Chai mix is great to add to a vanilla cake mix in cupcakes, then mix in with vanilla buttercream and you have a really yummy chai cupcake. Can’t wait to try your recipe!
oooooh those cupcakes sound divine!
Oh, yum! I love chai and coffee–best of both worlds!
Brilliant!
(Also, I actually live in the same city as a Trader Joe’s, but it still doesn’t feel close enough. I don’t have a car, so I always have to be able to carry everything home. As a result, I don’t go nearly as much as I thought I would! Sad.)
i have a feeling it would be the same way for me if there was one here!
I was browsing at Tasty Kitchen and found your Homemade Chai Spice for coffee. Strange I’ve had a craving for Chai for some reason and I think I’ve had it like twice in my life. In fact I was going to make a special trip to Starbucks to get a cup of Chai tea. I don’t like their coffee. Anyway, I’m going to order these spices from Penzey’s and make several batches for me, my coffee drinking daughters and maybe for Christmas gifts. I’m also thrilled to always find another lover of God!! Thanks for this recipe.
oh, Christmas gifts sounds like a good idea! you could layer the spices in jars – so pretty!
This is a very original idea ! Never heard about that !
I love the idea of making drinks like this at home. It is so easy and saves so much money. Thanks for the chai tea recipe. My wife and I will have to try this.
that sounds perfect right now! i love chai and coffee, so uh, can’t go wrong. haha.