Masala Chai Makes the Coziest Fall Cocktails

For many, the dawn of cozy season means cozy sweaters and pumpkin spice everything. And while Pumpkin Spice Lattes aren’t going anywhere, the advent of cooler weather signifies that chai flavors will also pop up in coffee shops and bars across the country.

When Americans refer to chai, they typically think of the flavors associated with the warming blend of spices such as cardamom, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. When added to cocktails or other drinks, these spices instantly lend a homey, comforting feeling of fall.

However, referring to this spice blend simply as chai isn’t accurate. What you’re actually drinking is masala chai, only one blend out of infinite options when it comes to chai.

What is chai?

“Chai is not a flavor,” says Monica Sunny, founder of The Chai Box. “Chai means tea, and it can be made in so many different ways with different ingredients.” 

Where Sunny grew up in India, and in Bangladesh, where Saif Rahman, owner of Peregrine in Raleigh, North Carolina, was born, chai is integrated into daily life. Moreso even than coffee is in America. 

“If you go to my mom’s house, there’s still a kettle on the stove, all day long, because tea is part of us,” says Rahman. Sunny adds that “chai time” with her family growing up was a daily ritual.

At Peregrine, Rahman has paid homage to his heritage with its Dirty Chai Martini, an Espresso Martini variation with chai syrup. The drink is “thrown,” a technique where it’s poured back and forth to aerate the liquid and create a nice foam on top. The technique, he says, mirrors how chai is typically prepared.

Chai is generally made with black tea, spices, and milk, preferably whole. The tea is often poured from up high, to integrate the milk and create a creamy, frothy drink. 

Different spice blends change the flavor profile of the drink. Just like bergamot oil transforms black tea into Earl Grey, there are countless chai variations. 

Chai’s popularity in the United States

It’s a bit fuzzy on exactly when the word chai became synonymous with masala chai in America, but Sunny hypothesizes that it was a marketing decision to differentiate between existing tea brands.

There’s a popular saying that it’s “tea if by sea, cha if by land.” Since the majority of the world’s tea has always come from Asian countries, if you could have gotten it by land, the common verbiage was cha, or chai. If you needed a boat to get it, it was tea.

That’s why it’s tea in America, while Sunny and Rahman call the same thing chai. But trying to educate a new audience on the difference is challenging. Sunny theorizes a South Asian manufacturer made the distinction by introducing masala chai as it was different from other blends Americans might be familiar with.

Another hugely influential factor is that Starbucks introduced their Chai Latte in 1999, a masala chai blend of “black tea, infused with cinnamon, clove, and other warming spices” according to their website. With such a dominating brand defining chai this way, it’s not a far stretch to see how the term was universally adopted.

And now, masala chai is everywhere, including your cocktails.

How to add chai to a cocktail

“[Masala] chai works well in cocktails because it brings that same cozy, spiced comfort and warmth that people love about pumpkin spice drinks,” says Protyoi Chowdhury, bartender at The Bronze Owl in New York City. “All those flavors of cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and ginger play nicely with both dark spirits and sweeter ingredients.”

Chowdhury’s Hoodie Season cocktail uses rye whiskey, apple brandy, chai, Averna amaro, allspice, and maple syrup, and is finished with a touch of smoky Scotch whisky. 

Scotch works especially well with the spice flavors in masala chai. Both Tamba in Las Vegas and Windmills Craftworks in The Colony, Texas, use the spirit as a base for their chai cocktails. 

At Windmills Craftworks, you’ll find a masala-spiced Old Fashioned. At Indian restaurant Tamba, its Maharaja of Patiala cocktail features Johnnie Walker Black, a house-made rose masala chai blend, and cream. Tamba’s founder, Sunny Dhillon, says the scotch’s subtle smokiness and balanced malt have enough structure to work with the chai blend and complement the spices. 

Masala chai can work in a number of ways in cocktails. Though its warm spice flavors complement darker spirits, the heady botanicals in a gin can also work well. When creating the Life of Chai cocktail at The Iberian Pig in Decatur, Georgia, bartender Joe Merchen sought to bring out all of the spices that go into chai. The cocktail combines Lustau Vermut Rose, tiki bitters, and a chai simple syrup with a botanical-forward gin. 

“Sweetness [in the cocktail] is a must as well,” he says. “If you go too bitter, you’re just going to get tannic, so I don’t think you want to use amaro and sherry or even dry vermouth.” 

Whether you opt for an earthy mezcal or spicy rye whiskey as your base, masala chai can lend complex layers and depth to a cocktail. It’s the 5,000-year-old spice blend behind fall’s favorite cozy drinks.