I love these. They used to sell both these types of tea eggs at local grocery stores, but I haven’t been able to find any for ages, at ANY local stores.For about 30-some years I’ve made my own loose masala chai tea mix from scratch, from a recipe that a former coworker gave me, which was his mother’s traditional recipe.Of course it can’t be used with tea bags, only tea eggs.* So these are perfect for that, and for any other loose tea you might want to use. Getting this many in one package also makes it possible for me to gift people with my loose chai tea mix and the tea egg they’ll need to make it!The best thing about this package is that you get 3 of the quick and easy “tong”-closure tea eggs, as well as 3 where the lid screws on. The former are great if you’re in a rush, though the execution isn’t as good a the concept (while scooping and snapping shut, bits of tea get caught where the two halves meet, leaving a gap where tea can fall out into the tea pot).The latter tea eggs with the screw-on lid can be thrown in a travel mug of hot water — AND used in a coffee maker. To use in a small residential coffee maker (5 cups coffee maker), I fill one (or two) screw on tea eggs with the masala chai mix, and put in the coffeemaker carafe, hooked on to the edge of the carafe by the chain. If I’ve filled it only with the spices (not including the added loose tea), then I add 4-5 tea bags of the cheapest black tea (or another tea egg filled with cheap loose black tea).Then I just basically brew hot water into the carafe, and let the chai and tea steep in the hot coffee maker carafe (leaving it on — don’t turn it off). The longer it steeps, the stronger the chai (and the better your house smells!). For me, a minimum of 20 minutes is required. You can steep longer for even stronger flavor.Of course, the traditional recipe calls for throwing the loose tea/spice mix in a pan, adding a bunch of milk, a chunk of jaggery (here in the US, in my part of Chicago, I substitute Mexican piloncillo sugar, if not using a sugar substitute; same sugar process, but instead of going all the way up to Devon to find jaggery, there’s piloncillos at the corner Mexican grocery). Heat it all to a simmer, and simmer for some 20 minutes. Then pour through a strainer into your cup.But the coffee maker version is the lazy way, and almost as good. Just add a lot of milk or cream. Tea eggs of masala chai mix are also a very portable version — throw in a travel mug, add near-boiling water, leave the house and begin your commute… In about 20 minutes you’ve got fantastic masala chai better than any syrup can make.The recipe I have** calls for a large amount of green cardamom pods, some cinnamon stick, a decent amount of black peppercorns (the more you use, the more pepper-y the spice taste), a couple-few cloves, a few broken-off pieces of star anise, and several grains of green fennel seed.Basically 60:15:10:5:5:5 ratios of green cardamom pods : stick cinnamon : black peppercorns : cloves : star anise bits : green fennel seeds = 100% total chai spice mix). Throw everything in a coffee grinder, grind coarsely. Finally, add an equivalent amount of cheap*** loose black tea, mix thoroughly, and voila: masala chai.*I suppose one could use DIY tea bags, where you can fill the empty drawstring tea bags with your own loose tea. But those bags are often made of plastic, not paper, like normal tea bags. You can tell the difference by holding a lit match or a lighter up to them. Paper tea bags burn; plastic tea bags melt.**This is only ONE recipe, not THE recipe, for masala chai. There are surely dozens, if not hundreds. My co-worker and his parents were from Mumbai, though they had all been here for some decades. His mother’s masala chai recipe from back home in India captured the chai taste I’d become fond of through my tastings in all the Indian restaurants on the North side, up on Devon Ave.And again, I got this recipe back in the 1990s — before Starbucks’ version of chai had blanketed the US. I still think it’s far superior to any chai from Starbucks. But people who ONLY know Starbucks’ “chai” (which is a flavored syrup) and no other, may NOT like this recipe. Many Indian natives may not like this recipe, either, because they may have a totally different homemade recipe or be familiar with a different type from street sellers in a particular area, city, neighborhood.***My former co-worker’s mother’s recipe specified “cheap” black tea because, I was told, cheaper tea has the most caffeine and most uniform taste. The cheapest loose dust or “dirt” tea (the “fannings,” per Wikipedia) was recommended. But I was told Lipton bag tea is also an option. I don’t know if that says something good or bad about Lipton tea, but the point is the tea and spice mix tastes must blend so that the spices reign (and the pick-me-up of the caffeine is also strong).That’s why, for example, you wouldn’t want to use Earl Grey; the bergamot would overpower or clash with the masala chai spices. Though I’ve always wondered what using lapsang souchong with the masala chai spices would taste like… the idea of smoky AND spicy sounds great, but I haven’t tried it yet…
