Indian Spiced Chai

I used to buy this prepared, but since we are studying India, I wanted to try to make my favorite tea at home. It was delicious! Here is the recipe I came up with, adapting it from one I found in Chai: The Spice Tea of India:

Merry's Spiced Chai

5 cups of boiling water
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
2 pinches of allspice
3/4 teaspoon of peppercorns
10 whole cloves
1 1/2 cinnamon sticks
1/8 cardamom seeds
2 tea bags (black tea; I used English Breakfast, but Earl Grey and Darjeeling are recommended)

Mix all ingredients, then simmer and let brew for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags and brew another 10-20 minutes more, depending on how spiced you like your tea. For a milder tea flavor, replace one of the tea bags with an apple cinnamon herbal tea bag, and use only 1 cinnamon stick.

Tea is best served with milk and sugar. The spice mix can be used for 2x the recipe if longer brewing time is used. Leftover chai can be refridgerated for iced chai, or to be reheated later.