Chai Tea Latte (and How to Froth Milk)

Well, I took my medical boards / Step 1 exam and I’m still alive!!

It was, yes, very hard, and had to do quite a bit of guessing, but I wasn’t as anxious during the test as I thought I’d be. In fact at the end, it felt little anticlimactic; I was like “That’s it? I studied my life away for a computer test?” After studying all day and night for almost two months, you don’t care anymore and just wanna finish the darn 8 hour exam.

 

The night before, I didn’t pass out like I usually do thanks to some pre-test jitters. A lot of my friends couldn’t sleep at all and felt like they pulled an all-nighter (ie terrible). Some people take sleep aids, but I’m not about to start trying out Ambien the night before the biggest test of my career.

Luckily, I have a 100% fool proof method for falling asleep.

Me: Rats….I can’t sleep. Well, time to sing… ♫ A hundred bottles of pop on the wall, a hundred bottles of pop! Take one down, pass it around, ninety-nine bottles of pop on the wall. Ninety-nine bottles of pop on the wall…♫ 

B: You sang A hundred bottles of pop to fall asleep?? Who does that!?? What number did you get to??
Me: Um, I made it to the high twenties or low thirties….I can’t remember exactly.
B: Oh my GOD, You made it THAT far?? That must have taken an hour!! 0_o 

So I did fall asleep, but then I kept waking up because I was just so excited for my test.

Me: OMG it’s 7am – time to wake up! *checks clock* Oh, it’s only 4:30am. Rats *fall asleep*
Me: OMG it’s 7am – time to wake up! *checks clock* Oh, it’s only 5:30am. Rats *fall asleep*
Me: OMG it’s 7am – time to wake up! *checks clock* Oh, it’s only 6:30am. Damnit, I give up. *gets out of bed to eat food*

I can’t have coffee because of my bet with Bryan, but I drank a ton of caffeine with these lattes. These kept me going these past 2 months and the day of the test. B thinks my blood is comprised of green tea now. Anyways, I made an enormous thermos of Chai Latte and kept it in the test locker – every break I made sure to sip some to stay awake (and of course go to the bathroom with all the caffeine).

I also stayed pumped by listening to a playlist that B made for me driving to the test and during breaks. Here are a couple of them to pump you up.
 – Be a Man (Disney’s Mulan) 
 – All Star (Smash Mouth) 
 – Beat It (Michael Jackson) 
 – Best Day of my life (American Authors) 
 – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (Wham!)
 – Run The World (Girls) (Beyonce) – Ok, ok, this one’s mine, as B hates Beyonce lol.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t tired at all the entire 8 hour. The fatigue didn’t hit until that night – let’s just say I slept very well. I’m so happy to have my life back again <3


Chai Tea Latte


Ingredients
1 black tea/english breakfast individual teabag (or 1/2 tablespoon loose leaf tea) *
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 – 1 1/2 cups water
1/4 – 1/3 cup almond or regular milk
1 tablespoon honey, plus more to taste
milk foam and ground nutmeg, optional

* If you have chai tea, you can skip the cinnamon, ginger, and allspice since it’s already mixed in

Directions
Stovetop method (good for large batches): Bring the water to boil in a small saucepan. Add teabag/loose tea, spices, and honey and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Add in milk and remove from heat. Adjust sweetness /milk to taste. Strain and pour into a mug.

Teapot and electric teakettle method (quick and easy): Heat water in electric teakettle. Add teabag/loose tea and spices in a teapot. Pour heated water into the teapot and let seep for a few minutes to desired strength. Pour tea into a mug. Add in honey and milk to desired taste.

To make the foam, put milk in a blender (or frother if you’re so fancy) and pulse until foam appears. Top the tea with your milk froth scooped from the top and sprinkle additional nutmeg. Enjoy!

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2 Comments

  1. Sometimes you act more like a cartoon character than a human being ��

    Chai latte looks amazing! I am bitter that it is one of your ways of circumventing the bet we made !

  2. Yayyy!!! congrats on being done with your test! This chai latte looks really yummy and frothy! My favorite latte flavors are chai and green tea.

    I'm impressed you are not having any coffee all of med school. Kudos to you!

  3. This looks absolutely delicious! Chai tea was one of my favorite drinks in college and many days I’d grab a vanilla latte or a chai tea latte on the way to class. I’m might ask my wife to make this one for me!