Chapter Six

Pink Chai Affogato

This spin on the classic Italian dessert is to die for. Rich pistachio gelato, rosy Kashmiri tea steeped with milk, cardamom, and vanilla bean paste for the most rich and decadent flavors. It’s topped with crushed almonds, pistachios, and more roses for the most beautiful and whimsical dessert you’ve ever had. It’s so easy to bring together, and its gorgeous colors make it perfect for tea parties, and baby showers!

The modern gelato originated in the 16th century by Bernado Buontalenti. The classic dessert is a mixture of espresso and vanilla gelato. Kashmiri chai originally comes from the valley of Kashmir where a very specific type of green tea leaf is used to make these deep gorgeous pink color. Traditionally it can take up to hours of stirring and pouring to bring out the rose color of these leaves, steeping with hot water first then with milk, sugar, salt and cardamom and often times baking soda to deepen the color. Making this drink the convention way is rewarding and insanely delicious, but for this recipes intents and purposes I used an instant tea mixture which colored the milk in moments! It was also very delicious and works perfectly for this recipe!

Chai- For this dessert I used ChaiShai’s instant rose kashmiri chai, its flavor is out of this world and it colors the milk literally in minutes! The longer you steep, the deeper the color and flavor is and I genuinely adore all of their teas, the flavor is exceptional.

Cardamom & Vanilla- I have to add vanilla bean paste in all my milk infused teas, it adds incredible depth of flavor and compliments every ingredient! Cardamom is a must in Kashimir chai, at least for me, it brings in all the special flavors that comes from the tea leaves and gives you the most amazing final product.

Milk- There are many different ways to make this tea, you can steep the ingredients first in water before adding the milk but I like to make this “dhood-phati” style which just means “milk-tea leaf”. I add the tea straight to the pot of milk and there is no water added! It gives a very creamy finish and its my favorite style of making tea.

Sugar- Sugar is optional but since Kashmiri chai is sometimes used as a dessert tea I like adding the sweetness in. It also compliments the pistachio gelato as it isnt overly sweet!

Gelato- Pistachios are a pretty important part of pink chai normally, I top the final dessert with nuts but generally speaking the tea is meant to be topped with pistachios. The flavor of this nut compliments the sweet creaminess of the tea and also showcases the pretty contrast in color! This makes pistachio gelato or ice cream absolutely perfect for this “affogato” as all the flavors tie into each other!

Toppings- I love to top this dessert with crushed pistachios almonds,because its traditional to the way the tea is served and also because it compliments the final product with the gelato and food safe rose petals as it pays omage to the rose flavor in the tea mixture! It also gives the finished product a gorgeous and whimsical look!