Vanilla chai is a spicy tea blend made using traditional Indian spices and vanilla. The drink may be enjoyed freshly brewed or with milk and a sweetener for a creamy hot or iced latte. Vanilla chai contains some caffeine, though it is less than a regular cup of coffee. Decaffeinated vanilla chai contains a small amount of caffeine, but much less than regular vanilla chai.
Serving Information and Ingredients
You can find vanilla chai at restaurants, in stores, in packets or as filter bag tea. In most cases, the tea in vanilla chai is black tea, although green or oolong tea is sometimes used. Traditional seasonings for chai include ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, cloves and star anise. The vanilla in may come from vanilla beans, natural vanilla flavor or from vanillin, an artificial vanilla flavor.
Caffeine in Regular Vanilla Chai
You can choose vanilla chai with the amount of caffeine that is right for you. That amount depends on the type of tea in the chai as well as when the tea was harvested and how it was processed. If you order vanilla chai from a restaurant, ask to see the nutrition pamphlet to read how much caffeine is present. Manufacturers label caffeine content based on the average amount in the tea, so any given cup may contain more or less caffeine. An 8 oz. cup of vanilla chai from one manufacturer contains 47 mg of caffeine. Another type of vanilla chai contains 25 mg per cup. An 8 oz cup of coffee, in comparison, contains an average of 108 mg of caffeine for brewed coffee and 145 mg for drip coffee.
Caffeine in Decaffeinated Vanilla Chai
Decaffeinated tea is not caffeine-free, according to Stash Tea, a major tea manufacturer. Expect decaffeinated tea, including decaffeinated vanilla chai, to contain 0.4 percent caffeine by dry weight. This is a small amount but may be significant to the caffeine-sensitive.
How to Decaffeinate Tea
You can decaffeinate tea yourself, according to Tazo, a company that blends chai. Steep your tea in boiling water for 45 seconds. Discard this liquid and add fresh boiling water to your tea. The resulting beverage will retain about 80 percent of the flavor from the tea, yet have 90 percent less caffeine.
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