I usually use assam. Do you like the ginger or black pepper spiciness? Fresh grated ginger is key for me.
I’m not sure the tea ads any spice but you definitely want a robust black tea to stand up to the spices. For the whole spices, I’ll toast them first, then ruffly crack and make a mix with the tea leaves (I make a decent amount at a time).
For the chai masala I make something similar to this. She mentions tea in this as well as her mix being “spicy” because of large amounts of black pepper, but I haven’t found it to be too much.
But I really prefer the whole spices to the masala mix if I have time.
