Four spices have this wonderful benefit—they’re good for your digestion! Cinnamon is sweet, Cardamom is warm and earthy, black pepper is warm and pungent, ginger is hot and pungent, and can be used either fresh or dried.
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You’ll find Cinnamon, Cardamom, Black Pepper, and Ginger are among the favorite spices for chais. Ginger is the most abundant spice, found in almost every single recipe. Recall that ginger is held in high esteem by herbalists, Ayurvedic, and Chinese medicine practitioners who call it a “universal medicine”. It’s helpful for digestion and circulation, it’s anti-inflammatory, anti-nausea, a remedy for coughs—known for its powers to restore homeostasis since ancient times. I think that drinking your ginger might be the easiest and most delicious way to get its benefits.
Yet ginger is very hot! And therefore its properties may be too strong for those who already have a hot, Pitta-like constitution. You can read more about ginger here.
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) combines well with cardamom, cinnamon, black peppercorns and cloves—just the spices that were chosen for chais and spiced milks! Why don’t we just use ginger alone and make it simple? For one, ginger is not used exclusively because you’d be missing out on the benefits of other spices, like black pepper, cardamom, and cinnamon. Each spice has considerable health advantages. And, combining spices creates a synergy that one spice doesn’t have on its own. Combining spices supports and enriches the benefit you’re looking for, such as good digestion.
The Supporting Spices
Black pepper’s (Piper nigrum) benefits include an ability to aid in stomach complaints and strengthen immune function. It’s said that long-ago Buddhist monks in China experimented with spices to augment their diet and maintain health. They ate a mixture of honey and black peppercorns that kept inflammation and bacteria at bay.
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum spp.) with its natural no-sugar-added-sweetness is helpful in blood sugar regulation and has anti-oxidant activity. Cinnamon is compatible with other so-called warming spices.
Cardamom (Elletaria cadamomum) is a powerhouse of flavor. It’s known in Ayurvedic medicine to treat asthma, bronchitis, kidney stones, anorexia, and general debility. One of the spices that found its way into spice blends on an international scale, Cardamom is an indispensable spice in well-known blends: Baharat—a spice blend in Turkish and Syrian cuisines; Berbere—spice blend famous in Ethiopian cuisine; Indian masalas, especially for dals, pilafs and rice pudding (or milk-based sweets). In other words, we rely upon Cardamom for its warmth and earthiness.
Comparing the taste of chais from these authors, Divya Alter, Tanita de Ruijt, and Ana Sortun, I found a variety of flavors and 2 absolute favorites.
