Chaice Pops
I don’t know when exactly my epiphany was. I know it struck sometime last summer, in the height of heat and humidity, in a dark and musty Virginian dorm room where I was staying for a job. I know there was desperation in my northeastern soul as I battled the gigantic bugs that came out in the 90-degree nights. I am sure I thirsted mightily for a chai. I often do.
The chai gods smiled upon me some fateful day as I poured myself a cup of hot, steaming chai tea and longed for it to be a frappucino. Because instead of drinking it I decided to put it, spoon and all, into the freezer. Shazam! A star was born: the chaice pop.
The chaice pop is a grown-up version of the applejuice pops your big sister might have made you when you were a sick with strep as a little kid. They are sweet, spicy, and all kinds of satisfying. If you serve them at afternoon tea, you’ll literally be the coolest kid on the block.
There are lots of ways to make this recipe your own. To begin, you have a choice of molds. I prefer the Mickey Mouse shaped molds we used for the aforementioned applejuice pops. It’s sort of upscale kitsch to fill them with chai. If you’re going to serve them at a party, you might use small teacups and serve them in their molds. If you’re making lots, empty yogurt cups (recycle!) or plastic throwaway cups work well. You can also make chai ice cubes to put in cold iced chai tea, if you’re a chai fanatic (guilty).
The trick to making a successful pop is to brew the chai extra strong. Use two teabags instead of one per mug. If you make a pot of chai tea, use five to eight, depending on how large the pot is. Leave the tea bags in and forget about them for awhile.
The only thing you have to do while the tea is hot is add sugar. I don’t like to make my ice pops as sweet as my childhood ones were, because I think chai is supposed to be classier than that. But a spoonful or two never hurts. If your variety of chai doesn’t already have spices in it, stir in some cinnamon and nutmeg. But beware; the spices have a tendency to gather at the bottom of the mold/top of the pop, so don’t go overboard unless you’re looking to clear out the old nasal passages.
You can also add milk or a little cream for a rich treat. Alternatively, you can brew the chai tea directly in hot (not boiling) milk. This might need to steep longer than brewing with water, so taste the tea before you go to freeze it to be sure it’s strong enough.
Once you’ve brewed enough tea and stirred in the fixings, fill the molds and insert a handle. Try spoons (especially cute in little teacups), regular popsicle sticks, straws (the fat ones used for bubble tea, not the flimsy bendable ones), or chopsticks (two or three to a tall cup works well). In order to keep your handle from falling to the side, cover the top of each container with foil and poke the handle through a small hole in the center. Freeze for at least an hour, and probably two.
To pop out the pops, run the mold under hot water for a few seconds, loosen the pop gently and toss the foil. Voila! A more refreshing concoction is not to be found.
