Iced Chai Latte – Detoxinista

It’s time to make an iced chai latte at home! All you need is a few simple ingredients to make your own homemade chai latte concentrate. It will have you enjoying quick chai lattes all week long, and it tastes even better than the kind you’d buy at a coffee shop.

If you love a Starbucks iced chai tea latte, you’ll love this drink. It uses simple chai spices that you probably already have on hand, and you don’t need any special equipment to make it. If you love my famous warm chai latte recipe made on the stove, I think you’ll love this, too.

It’s the perfect drink to keep on hand during the warmer summer months!

Why You’ll Love It

It’s as easy as it gets. All you have to do is brew some tea, then add a few ingredients to a mason jar and shake well. It takes less than 10 minutes to assemble, and will last all week. It reminds me of a copycat Starbucks drink, without having to drive to the coffee shop!

It’s naturally sweet. This recipe uses maple syrup as the sweetener, which includes trace minerals like manganese and zinc. It also adds a nice depth of flavor and sweetness to the finished drink! (Be sure to use pure maple syrup, and not a processed pancake syrup for the best results.)

You can control the flavor. I highly suggest trying this recipe as-written, as I’ve already experimented with the ratio of spices and sweetener for you. However, you can always adjust this to your liking! If you want a spicier kick, you can use less sweetener, or add a little more ginger or cloves.

You can make it ahead of time. The chai concentrate will keep well in the fridge for at least 5 days, so you can easily make a homemade chai latte anytime you’re in the mood for one, in less than 2 minutes.

Prefer a hot latte? You can use this concentrate in hot milk, too! Or check out my famous chai latte recipe for a stove top version.

Ingredients You’ll Need

What’s in an iced chai latte?

• Black tea
• Cinnamon
• Ginger
• Cloves
• Maple syrup

These simple ingredients will create a delicious chai flavor. If you’d like to add even more spice, feel free to add a pinch of ground star anise, cardamom, or nutmeg, and you can also add up to a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Try a pinch of black pepper, to boost the spice level, too.

Traditional recipes will usually have you boil whole spices together, like cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and cardamom pods, in a simple syrup mixture. However, the steps below are for those of us who might not want to go through that effort.

This “shake it all together” method is much easier, if you ask me!

How to Make an Iced Chai Latte

1. Brew the tea. 

Arrange 4 black tea bags in a large mug or measuring cup, and pour 1 cup of boiling water over them. Let the tea steep for 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Mix the spices. 

In a 16-ounce mason jar, add the maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. When the tea is done brewing, remove the tea bags and pour the strongly brewed tea into the mason jar with the syrup and spices.

Use a whisk to mix everything together, or secure a lid on the jar and shake well. This is your chai tea concentrate!

3. Assemble. 

To make a chai latte, add roughly 1 1/2 cups of ice to a glass, then pour 3/4 cup of your favorite milk over the ice. Shake the concentrate well in the jar each time you’re ready to use it, then pour a 1/4 cup of the concentrate into the iced milk. (It makes beautiful swirls this way!)

Stir well, then the chai latte is ready to drink! If you need a sweeter or spicier flavor, you can add more chai concentrate, as you like.

Variation: You can make a dirty chai latte by adding a shot of espresso to this! You can make it fancier by adding a dollop of foam or whipped cream on top, too.

Storage Tips: Store the leftover concentrate in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. This recipe makes roughly 5 servings as written, but you can double or triple it, if you need to.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which type of tea works best for chai lattes? I use a black tea (English breakfast or Darjeeling) for this recipe, rather than a chai tea bag, so the tea flavor won’t compete with the added spices. If you want to use a masala chai or other variety of spiced tea, you may want to cut back dramatically on the spices in this recipe, so  your latte doesn’t become overwhelmingly spicy.

Do chai lattes contain caffeine? Yes, this drink does contain some caffeine if you use black tea. Feel free to use a deaf tea or herbal tea, if you’d prefer a non-caffeinated drink. Or you can simply use extra milk as the base, instead of tea.

Which milk works best? I serve this with almond milk or oat milk, but any variety you love should work well. For a creamier drink, try using coconut milk.

Can I use a different sweetener? You can swap the maple syrup for honey, if you don’t need a vegan recipe. In that case, I’d start with just a 1/4 cup of honey, since it has a stronger flavor than maple syrup.

Can I make this in a blender? Yes, I tested this recipe in a mason jar and in a blender. I was hoping the blender might help the spices break down even more (so you won’t see spices floating in your drink). However, the blended version isn’t significantly different than the shaken version, so pick whichever method you prefer for mixing.

If you try this iced chai latte recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below letting me know how you like it.