Karak Chai Recipe

Two glass cups of freshly brewed karak chai on a white background, showing the rich color of the milk tea.

Make rich and creamy Karak Chai at home with this easy 10-minute Dubai-style recipe. Bold tea flavor, cardamom aroma, and perfect caramel color — just like UAE street cafés. No condensed milk needed!

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Beverage, Drinks

Cuisine: Indian, International, Middle Eastern, Pakistani

Keyword: Arabic tea recipe, creamy karak tea, Dubai karak chai, how to make karak chai, karak chai recipe, karak chai with evaporated milk, Karak tea, karak tea recipe, UAE chai recipe

Prep Time: 2

Cook Time: 5

Total Time: 7

Servings: Persons

Calories: 200kcal

Author: Hinz

Ingredients

2 cups Milk Fresh full-fat milk
½ cup Evaporated Milk (Rainbow milk or any full-cream evaporated milk)
1 tablespoon Black Tea Loose black tea, substitute: tea bags
1 teaspoon Sugar To Taste (optional)
5 Cardamom Pods For signature aroma

Instructions

Infuse the Milk

In a medium-sized saucepan, pour in the milk and add the coarsely crushed green cardamom pods. Turn the heat to medium and bring the milk to a gentle boil.
Let it simmer for 2–3 minutes, stirring frequently. This continuous stirring helps develop that signature creamy, frothy texture that Karak tea is known for.

Add Black Tea

Once the milk becomes fragrant and lightly foamy, sprinkle in the black tea.
Keep stirring so the tea infuses evenly and the milk doesn’t stick to the bottom. Within a minute, you’ll notice the color shifting to a warm caramel-brown.

Sweeten the Tea

Add sugar to taste. You can adjust the sweetness based on your preference—or completely skip it if you prefer a sugar-free cup.Give it a good mix to ensure the sugar dissolves completely.

Pour Evaporated Milk

Now stir in the evaporated milk. This is what gives Karak chai its deep richness and café-style creaminess.Let it simmer for another minute, stirring continuously to blend all the flavors.

Strain & Serve

Use a fine mesh strainer, carefully strain the tea into your serving teapot or directly into cups. This removes the loose tea and cardamom, leaving a smooth, velvety chai.
Serve the hot cup of tea with biscuits, cookies or savory snacks.

Notes

Create the creamy consistency according to your preferred taste. If you want an exceptionally creamy texture, stick to using only evaporated milk.
Rainbow milk — the evaporated milk brand sold in every UAE supermarket and the most commonly used for karak chai across Gulf cafés and homes — is what I use in this recipe. It gives karak its characteristic creamy richness and slightly golden colour. Any full-cream evaporated milk brand works equally well if you're outside the UAE.
To balance the flavor of evaporated milk, mix it with fresh milk. This combination will provide you with an ideal taste along with a delightful strong tea fragrance.
While you can mix evaporated milk with water, it's not the best choice. It tends to compromise both the creamy texture and the flavor of the tea.
For a distinct Middle Eastern flavor in your tea, use only green cardamom.
If you want to make more cups, simply adjust the ingredients accordingly.
This recipe is designed to yield 2 medium-sized cups.
You can also incorporate saffron strands for added flavor. It's an excellent choice for winter tea.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 200kcal