Talking Introspection with Warm Spiced Chai Milk Tea
Welcome to Coffee Concepts, where I pair a self-awareness or exploration topic with a fun drink recipe that feels like it fits the mood. Could I tell you why? Not always. It’s a very instinctual process. Are the vibes immaculate? I hope so!
Let’s start with the drink. When I read blog posts with recipes, nothing irritates me more than having to skim through four+ thumb swipes of story or information before seeing the recipe – even when it’s a great story! So, on the chance you got here looking for a from-scratch Spiced Chai Latte, here’s the recipe, right now. If you were looking to read about introspection, it’s only one thumb-swipe below the recipe; I’ll see you there.
Homemade Warm Spiced Chai Milk Tea
There’s something magical about a drink that has a warm and inviting blend of spices you mixed up yourself. That bit of extra (relatively quiet) time in the kitchen before sitting with your drink can bring a leisurely feeling to your morning, your break, or the end of your (work) day. This milk is loosely based off of Masala Chai, an East Indian tea – but it’s been adjusted for my own tastes (and usual pantry availability). We’re about to go heavy on the cinnamon and light on the cloves, but you can play with this yourself for maximum enjoyment.
| For one person | For a loved one, too |
|---|---|
| 1- 2tbsp loose leaf black tea (assam is traditional) | 2-3 tbsp loose leaf black tea |
| 2 green cardamom pods* | 3 green cardamom pods |
| 1 cinnamon stick (not a wee one, think big here) | 2 cinnamon sticks |
| 3 black peppercorns (not ground!) | 4 or 5 black peppercorns/td> |
| 2 whole cloves | 3 whole cloves |
| 1-2 whole star anise (2 if you like that licorice flavour) | 2-3 whole star anise |
| 3 small slices of fresh ginger** | 4 small slices of fresh ginger |
| 1-2 tsp honey | 2-3 tsp honey |
| 1.5 cups of milk*** | 3 cups of milk |
* Some of these spices might not be common additions to your pantry. But if you’re into making foods from scratch, investing in a variety of spices really opens up your options! If you don’t have the un-ground versions of these spices, you can absolutely use the equivalent of ground (usually about a quarter teaspoon to a teaspoon depending on your tastes). I like to use the whole spices because I have a thing about gritty textures in my drinks.
** I love to use fresh ginger because I like the warmth it adds to a drink or food. Some people can find that this comes across as spicy and unpleasant, so if that’s not your jam, use a half teaspoon or so of ground ginger. If you like a lot of warm kick, add a couple more spices – or a few, I can’t tell you what to do! Follow your heart.
*** I use whole milk for myself, but when I’m making it for my lactose-intolerant partner, I’ll use a mix of half cashew milk (vanilla, unsweetened), and coconut milk (a high-quality canned kind). This keeps it creamy but has a balanced flavour. It still tastes of coconut, so if you don’t like that, swap it out for your favourite kind of milk – oat milk goes particularly well with chai, I’ve found. If you’re really into the “from scratch” part of making a new recipe like I am, try making your own oat milk! It’s one of the easiest milks to make yourself, that still comes out with a good texture and flavour.
Instructions:
1. Turn a small pot on to medium-low heat.
2. Add all your spices except for the ginger, and toast them for a few minutes until it smells fragrant.
3. Add the milk, loose leaf tea, ginger, and honey.
4. Bring to a simmer. Simmer until the cinnamon stick has started to unfurl and the milk is steaming but not boiling (turn the heat down if you need to), stirring frequently (I just keep doing it the whole time, breathing it in!). The milk should turn brown as the tea steeps.
5. Use an open-topped tea strainer to pour just the infused tea into two cups.
6. Find a comfy spot, curl up, and come read about introspection with your warm drink.
Introspection – What is it, and what is it not?
Introspection is a process of gaining self-awareness. Whether that looks like a quick gut check, journaling, reading tarot, meditating, praying, or just staring off at the wall thinking about “nothing” for ten minutes while you wait for your drink order to be called, we all do it. We do!
I think a lot of the information out there on introspection and self-awareness is that we need to be doing it, and that most of us aren’t yet – we start our journaling practice or our spiritual meditations thinking we’ve been wandering around life blind, just bumping into our problems and wandering past our own meaning and motivations. We expect that once we learn to “open our eyes”, nothing can escape our consciousness again and we’ll easily reap the benefits touted to us: inner peace, a release of negativity, the ability to break our own unhelpful patterns, and to really know “who we are”. Then we’re frustrated and disheartened when we close our eyes for meditation, and we feel… lost. We wonder why we can’t do it, why it isn’t working, what we’re doing wrong.
There are three things about introspection that you’ve probably heard before, but I really want you to know – and take to heart. One is If you’re trying, you’re not doing it wrong. There are infinite ways to engage in introspection, and probably about 800 really popular ones that “everybody” is into. Part of the process of introspection is just… starting, so you can find what works for you and what doesn’t.
The second thing is that expectation management is a big part of introspection. Those benefits that everyone tells us we’ll get from self-awareness and introspection? The inner peace, the pattern disrupting, the “knowing who we are”… none of those things are actually from introspection. They’re from conscious decision-making, and fostering change. Introspection, on its own, doesn’t really do anything for us. It’s the research stage of a multi-part strategy.
The last thing I need you to know about introspection is that it isn’t an all or nothing skill. It’s not that we can either do it, or we can’t. And it’s not that if we can do it in one aspect of our lives, we can do it in all of them. We all have different blind spots, different places where we’re more aware. Some patterns are easier to spot than others. Some things are easier for us to miss than others. It comes down to life experience, learning, where we’re directing our attention and energy, and what things we’re interested in (or what we bury in shame without realizing). There are certain times in our lives when we’re more aware and introspective than others. It’s a continuous process that we need to steep in and keep working on.
Did I just make achieving those things you want sound like work instead of a soft light of spiritual know-how being downloaded? Yeah, I did. But it’s work worth doing, and the only way you’re going to get those benefits is to know what introspection actually does for you, how that process can work for you, and what you want to do with the information you get out of it.
So maybe the new first step in your own introspective process is to get clear on what you want to get out of it – be specific! Are you looking for a solution to a problem? Is there a pattern you’re already trying to break, but you’re not making progress? Are you trying to find in yourself what feels like home and what feels like a gift from great-aunt Kathilda that you put out and use sometimes because she gave it to you, but it really doesn’t feel like you? Are you looking for that release of negativity? All of these things require introspection into certain aspects of your life, but also need you to use different skills to take that information and use it to create change in our lives – because that’s what we really want. We want introspection to be the vehicle for change in ourselves. But it’s really more like the fuel – we are the vehicles.
If that feels really intimidating, maybe you don’t have the skills yet to create the change you want – use some introspection to pinpoint what they are! You can’t change what you can’t see – and that is the real benefit of introspection.
Did this raise some questions for you? Tell me about them through the Contact Me page. I’d love to know where you’re curious about introspection, where you’re struggling, or what your introspective practice looks like.
