Karak Chai Recipe: Strong Cardamom Milk Tea

Karak chai is strong black tea boiled with cardamom, sugar and milk, usually evaporated milk, until it is sweet, creamy and the colour of caramel. It is a hugely popular everyday tea in the UAE, Qatar and the wider Gulf. Here is how to make karak chai at home in about 20 minutes, with our recipe for two cups, which tea to use and how karak differs from masala chai.

What is karak chai?

Karak chai, also called karak tea or chai karak, is black tea brewed strong and then boiled with milk and sugar, with cardamom as its signature spice. Qatar Tourism’s Visit Qatar describes it as “a strong, spiced tea made with black tea, milk, sugar and cardamom”, sometimes with cinnamon or saffron, and lists evaporated milk among the classic ingredients.

The name is usually traced to kadak chai, or strong tea: Gulf News explains that karak comes from the Hindi word kadak, meaning strong, and chai, meaning tea. Visit Qatar says the drink has South Asian origins and was brought to the Gulf by Indian and Pakistani communities. Accounts differ on when: Gulf News dates its arrival in the UAE to around the 1960s, while an AP report links it to the Indian and Pakistani migrants of the 1970s oil boom, who craved masala chai but could afford neither fresh milk nor the time to slow-cook it.

A 2020 Qatar University conference paper by Abdulla Moaswes calls it a popular tea in the UAE and the other Arab Gulf states, “widely consumed across class and ethnic lines”, and The National has called karak the UAE’s informal national drink.

Karak chai vs masala chai and Gulf cardamom tea

How the three compare:

Gulf News sums up the difference from Indian masala chai: cafeteria karak uses “fewer whole spices, strong black tea, and evaporated or normal milk and sugar”. For cardamom tea without milk, our Alwazah Swan Cardamom Tea and Ahmad Tea Cardamom Tea come ready-flavoured, and our Alwazah range also has cardamom tea in bags. The Alwazah pages suggest serving it sweet in small glasses, for guests, after meals and during Ramadan; simmered with milk and sugar, all three also make a quick karak-style cup. For cardamom coffee, see how to make Arabic coffee.

Karak chai recipe (makes 2 cups)

This karak chai recipe boils loose black tea with crushed cardamom, then simmers it with evaporated milk and sugar until strong, creamy and caramel-coloured. It makes 2 cups (about 350ml) and takes about 20 minutes.

Prep: 5 minutes. Cook: about 15 minutes. Total: about 20 minutes. You need a saucepan of at least 1 litre, as boiling milk rises, and a fine tea strainer.

Ingredients

• 300ml water (150ml if you use whole milk)
• 4 teaspoons (about 8g) loose black tea, or 4 black tea bags
• 3–4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed, or ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
• 150ml evaporated milk, or 300ml whole milk
• 2–4 teaspoons sugar, to taste
• optional: 4–5 saffron threads, a thin slice of fresh ginger or a small piece of cinnamon stick

Method

1. Crack the cardamom. Press each pod with the flat of a knife until it splits; everything is strained out at the end.
2. Boil the water in a small saucepan with the cardamom, plus the ginger or cinnamon, if using.
3. Add the tea, lower the heat and simmer for about 3–5 minutes, until the liquid is very dark.
4. Add the milk and sugar, plus the saffron, if using, and bring back to the boil, turning the heat down as soon as the milk starts to rise.
5. Simmer for about 3–5 minutes more, stirring now and then, until the tea is a deep caramel colour and slightly thicker. If it threatens to boil over, lift the pan off the heat for a few seconds.
6. Strain and serve. Pour through a fine tea strainer into cups or small glasses, pressing on the leaves. Taste, add more sugar if you like, and serve hot.

Boiling milk can spill over in seconds: stay with the pan, turn the handle away from the front of the hob and keep children back.

Allergens: karak chai contains milk. Our tea and spice pages list none of the 14 major allergens for the products linked here, but the Abido cardamom pack says it may contain traces of wheat (gluten), sesame and mustard: check every label when cooking for someone with an allergy.

Tips for the best karak chai

How strong should karak be?

Strong enough to stay deep caramel brown, not pale beige, once the milk is in. If yours is weak, add an extra teaspoon of tea or simmer it a minute or two longer next time; if it tastes harsh, use less tea. Karak is usually served sweet: start with 1–2 teaspoons of sugar per cup and adjust.

Why is karak boiled rather than steeped?

Karak has to stand up to evaporated milk and sugar, and simmering draws more from the leaves than steeping: our El Arosa page suggests a brief simmer for an extra-strong cup, and Gulf News puts karak’s strength down to “this slow boiling”. One tea shop featured by Gulf News boils its karak for about 45 minutes.

Making karak for a crowd

Multiply the recipe, use a wide pan no more than half full and allow longer for it to come back to the boil. Gulf News reports that some shops brew a big pot of sweet, strong tea and add the evaporated milk separately in each cup. Keep it hot in a vacuum flask while you serve, rather than reboiling it. Karak is best drunk fresh. If you keep some, follow the Food Standards Agency’s general advice on leftovers: cool it and put it in the fridge within two hours, use it within 48 hours and reheat it only once, until steaming hot. Empty spare evaporated milk into a container in the fridge, as the FSA advises for opened tins, and follow the tin’s advice on how long it keeps.

Dairy-free karak

Swap the evaporated milk for 300ml of unsweetened oat or soya drink and cut the water to 150ml. Results vary by brand: one plant-milk maker, for example, says its oat drink very rarely curdles in coffee, but too much heat can make its soya drink curdle. So add it after the tea has simmered, keep it at a gentle simmer rather than a full boil, and check the label for allergens.

Which tea is best for karak chai?

Any strong black tea will do. Loose tea lets you set the strength by the spoonful; with bags, use one per teaspoon of loose tea (our Alwazah bags hold about 2g each, the same as the teaspoon our loose Alwazah page suggests per cup) and squeeze them out before straining. Our product pages suggest each of these teas from our tea and coffee range for strong, milky or karak-style tea:

What to serve with karak chai

In Gulf cafés and cafeterias karak often comes strong and sweet, in disposable cups or glasses. At home, small tea glasses suit it, and our Turkish tea glasses guide compares sets of about 140–175ml. Paratha is a popular partner: a Sharjah tea shop that sells both told Khaleej Times that people love its paratha with their tea, “especially in the morning”. See our guides to cooking frozen paratha and frozen samosas.

Frequently asked questions

What does karak mean?

Karak is generally taken to mean strong: the name is usually traced to kadak chai, Hindi for strong tea, and chai comes from the Hindi and Urdu word for tea. The name fits: the tea is boiled until it is strong enough to carry the milk and sugar. You will also see it written as karak tea or chai karak.

Can I make karak chai with normal milk?

Yes. Use 300ml of whole milk instead of the 150ml of evaporated milk, cut the water to 150ml and simmer as usual until deep caramel in colour. Expect a lighter, less creamy cup: evaporated milk is milk heated to concentrate it, and one UK maker suggests about 1 part to 1½ parts water to turn it back into ordinary milk.

Can I use condensed milk instead of evaporated milk?

You can, but leave out the sugar: condensed milk is made with concentrated milk and sugar, while evaporated milk has no sugar added. Use 150ml of whole milk in place of the evaporated milk and stir in condensed milk a tablespoon at a time, tasting as you go.

Does karak chai contain caffeine?

Yes. Karak is made with black tea, and tea naturally contains caffeine, as our tea product pages note. It is a strong brew, too: our recipe uses about 2 teaspoons of tea per cup, twice the single teaspoon our loose-leaf tea pages suggest for an ordinary cup.