My chai catches on the pan or boils over

In short

Both problems come from the same step — bringing milk to the boil — and both are handled by the order in which things go into the pan and by staying with it. There is no single authoritative recipe, but the sequence is fairly consistent across households.

Likely causes, in order

Most likely first. Answer the question under each one before moving on — several of these look alike in the cup and are told apart only by what was done to the leaf.

1. 1. Milk added at the start

   Technique

   Check: Did the milk go in with the water and spices?

   Fix: Simmer the cracked spices in water first, add the tea and boil it, then add milk. Milk added at the start slows extraction and scorches on the base of the pan.

2. 2. Left unattended once the milk is in

   Technique

   Check: Did it rise while you were doing something else?

   Fix: Milk foams up very quickly and without warning. The traditional handling is to pull the pan off the heat as it rises and return it, often several times.

3. 3. Heat too high

   Temperature

   Check: Is the burner at full?

   Fix: The tea needs a hard boil; the milk stage does not. Drop the heat once the milk is in and let it come up more slowly.

4. 4. A thin pan

   Equipment

   Check: Is the base thin and light?

   Fix: Thin bases develop hot spots that scorch milk solids before the bulk is hot. A heavier pan is the single most effective piece of kit for this preparation.

5. 5. Ground spice instead of whole

   Technique

   Check: Was the spice pre-ground?

   Fix: Ground spice settles onto the base and burns there, and it turns the drink gritty and muddy besides. Crack whole spices instead.

Tea types this applies to

• Black tea

Brewing methods this applies to

• Chai preparation — Tea simmered with milk, sugar and whole spices rather than steeped — a decoction, and the daily preparation of a very large part of the world. There is no single authoritative recipe, and regional and household variation is enormous.
• Boiling and decoction — Leaf, and usually other ingredients, simmered in water or milk rather than steeped — the basis of masala chai, butter tea and noon chai.

Related problems

Sharing a cause category, a tea type or a brewing method with this one.

• My chai tastes of hot spiced milk rather than tea — The drink is pleasant and sweet and the tea is nowhere in it — no colour to speak of, no briskness, and nothing that would tell you tea had been involved.
• My chai is harsh and drying rather than rich — The drink is strong enough but unpleasant with it: a rough, drying grip on the tongue and a flat cooked note, rather than the round sweetness a good chai has.
• My tea goes cold before I finish it — The cup is lukewarm within a few minutes, and in a gongfu session the later infusions arrive noticeably cooler than the early ones.
• My tea is weak since I moved somewhere high — The same tea, the same dose and the same timer produce a thin, under-developed cup, and the water is boiling — visibly and vigorously — before it goes in.
• My milk curdles or separates in the tea — Flecks or threads appear when the milk goes in, or the surface breaks into small islands, and the drink looks grainy rather than smooth.

Sources