Bulletproof Turmeric Chai Latte

Fall has always been my favorite season. Aside from my obsession with wool socks and all things pumpkin, it just feels so cozy to me. The leaves are changing and there’s that familiar crunch beneath your boots. The mornings are crisp, and require a scarf (which btw is my favorite accessory) but not much more. But then, you think for a minute and remember that winter is around the corner.. don’t go there. Anyways.

In the spirit of warm, cozy drinks – I’ve been loving all kinds of lattes that don’t involve espresso recently. I’ve subbed my sugar free vanilla soy latte with a London Fog when I’m traveling for work (and the only available coffee is Starbucks or hotel garbage) and almost exclusively ordering tea lattes when I’m at coffee shops and cafes. I didn’t make a pact or consciously tell myself I needed to try something new, but it just kind of happened. Maybe it was my 3 week attempt at kicking coffee cold turkey, but I’ve been warming up to tea as a substitute for that decaf latte. For those of you who didn’t know me in college when I was sleep deprived and going through my less than a quarter life crisis, soy lattes were my 45 minutes of pure bliss when I was editing lab reports or typing eight pages of equations in Microsoft Word.

Note: The aforementioned attempt at quitting coffee was a total failure and absolute waste of time. Coffee is wonderful, leave it alone. 

On one of my more recent cafe indulgences, I ordered a golden milk latte. If haven’t heard of this yet – just Google it. It’s EVERYWHERE. Aside from all that health mumbo jumbo that you can read about yourself on the interwebs, this latte was pretty damn tasty. I’m an advocate for all things tasty and needless to say, I’ve been craving that cozy, spicy goodness ever since.

Aside from being spicy and delicious at the same time, this drink takes all of 7 minutes to whip up. If you’re wondering where I got 7 minutes from, most chai teas call for 4-6 minutes of steeping time. While the tea is steeping, you pour/measure everything else into the blender and then there’s still 2 minutes and 36 seconds until your tea is finished steeping. Once that is finished, give the tea bags and couple swirls in the glass and pour that into the blender and whiz it around until it’s warm and frothy. That’s it.

7 minutes, you guys.

According to all my research on the interwebs, this doesn’t qualify for bulletproof coffee because there’s no butter in it. It does in my book AKA the land of dairy free cooking. Besides – I’ve got another recipe for bullet proof coffee that doesn’t have butter in it on the blog and it’s delicious so who really cares?

Also, butter in my coffee:

1. weirds me out 
2. see number one

In all seriousness,  we don’t keep “real” butter in our fridge and although I love Earth Balance in tons of recipes, it was not good in this one. I found that coconut oil and blending on high speed can help you achieve that frothy, latte-esque experience. The turmeric and chai take this drink to a whole new level that passes the cozy on the couch test with flying colors. So there you have it folks, now you can get your golden milk latte for $4.67 cheaper and you don’t even have to leave home.

Real time though – I just wrote latte-“esk” then proceeded to Google “esk”. Engineer, over here.

Enjoy!

---

Bulletproof Turmeric Chai Latte

Author: Dana Zychowski

Servings: 8 oz 

Recipe Type: Drink

Ingredients:

• 2 tea bags, chai black tea
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 cup almond milk, or non dairy substitute
• 1/2 TBSP coconut oil
• 1/2 TBSP maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Prepare tea bags as directed on the package in 1 cup of boiling water. Steep time should be about 4-6 minutes. While tea is steeping, measure out remaining ingredients and pour into a blender.
2. Once the tea is finished steeping, squeeze the bags with your fingers or wrap tightly around a spoon to get all the flavor out. Add tea to blender and blend on high until mixture is frothy *. Serve immediately.

Side Notes: 

* If you have a Vitamix, it will do all the work and heat up the entire mixture for you. If your blender doesn’t have these capabilities, you can heat the milk up in the microwave for a minute or two before adding it to the blender. You can also heat the entire mixture up in a small saucepan before serving.