How to Make a Chai Tea Latte at Home

August 31, 2019

In this post, I’ll share with you how to make a chai tea latte at home so you can have your chai tea and drink it too!

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As fall approaches, I love the idea of drinking a hot chai tea in the morning on my drive to work.

However, I’ve learned how quickly drinks from coffee shops can become addicting and take up more than I’ve budgeted for if I’m not careful.

Wanting to have my chai tea latte and drink it too I’ve figured out how to make a coffee shop-style chai tea latte from home for less than half the cost of a coffee shop chai tea latte…

Here’s How To Make a Chai Tea Latte at Home

Step 1: Purchase the ingredients

This step takes some advanced planning because chances are you don’t have chai tea latte mix laying around in your house. Luckily, for this chai tea latte recipe there are only two ingredients:

Chai Tea

There are so many options when it comes to chai tea. You can make it from scratch with tea bags and spices, but I’m not about that life as a busy working mama. Here are my favorite chai tea latte mixes:

Tazo Chai Tea Skinny Mix: This one is so delicious and it’s not as sweet as other options. Since I’m trying to lose the last bit of baby weight this one is my newest go-to.

Oregon Chai Tea: My all-time favorite, but this one is very sweet. If you like sweet chai tea lattes and you’re not worried about your sugar intake I’d check this one out. They also carry it at Trader Joes.

Tazo Chai Tea: This one is good, but it’s a little on the spicy side, so if you like spicy chai tea lattes this one is the best for you.

Milk

You probably have this in your house. As you know, you can use whatever type of milk you choose. Whole milk will give you that rich creamy texture, but 2% works pretty well. You can also substitute with almond milk, oat milk, whatever your heart desires! I like buying the whole organic milk from Costo because it lasts a pretty long time before it expires.

Step 2: Heat it up, and make it frothy.

Basically, there are two options for this…

Option 1: The Least Expensive Option

The least expensive option is to put 6 ounces of chai tea latte mix and 6 ounces of milk in a microwaveable mug and heat it up for about one minute (give or take depending on how powerful your microwave is). Once it’s heated up you’ll make the milk frothy with a doohicky like this, also called a milk frother (buy it on Amazon here). All you do is stick it in your drink and turn it on until your drink reaches your desired level of frothiness. You can top it off with a pinch of ground cinnamon if you want to be fancy.

The Really Frothed Option

Option two is a little more expensive because you’ll need a better frother. With this option, you’ll use this device (buy it here on Amazon) to froth and heat up your milk. While your milk is being warmed and frothed in the milk frother/steamer, you’ll heat up the chai tea latte mix in the microwave (or on the stove). When they’re both done you can mix them together and top with a pinch of cinnamon as well.

If you like your chai tea lattes thick and creamy, this option is the best for you. Otherwise, the first option works just fine.

Saving Money on Chai Tea Lattes

So, how much money does this hack save you? If you made a 12-ounce chai tea latte at home it’d cost you around $1.20 in ingredients (yes, I figured out the per-ounce cost, yes I know I’m a nerd), plus the cost of the frother. So, for option A you’d breakeven after making 5 chai tea lattes at home, and for option B you’d break even after 15 lattes.

If you have three chai tea lattes a week from Starbucks during fall and winter, either at home option would save you over $150!

Optional Add Ons

Want to look expensive without the cost? Purchase one of these reusable Starbucks cups and take your drink to work in this. People will think you’re drinking Starbucks and are environmentally friendly, but won’t be any wiser to the fact that you’re doing it at a fraction of the cost! Oh, and no waiting in lines! Time is money right!? #MoneyHack

Want to feel expensive without the cost? I love when coffee shops give me a mug with a saucer, it just feels fancy. You can purchase one like this and drink it at home for a curated chai tea latte-drinking experience! Another option is to get a really cute mug. I’ve bought a few at Anthropologie (literally the only things I’ve ever bought there because everything else is so expensive), but they really make me feel fancy when I’m drinking out of them. Talk about a great way to start your day, am I right?

Rachel Jimenez

Rachel Jimenez is passionate about personal finance, passive income, and positive psychology. She is known for being a top digital product seller on Etsy, and loves sharing side hustle and money tips so people can reach financial independence and live the life of their dreams.

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