Green Beauty Team’s Conscious Iced Chai

Happy Friday! I’m so looking forward to these final weekends of Summer. It’s a gloomy day today but the weekend promises lots of sunshine. Fridays are usually my catch up days so I’m enlisting the help of my favorite green beauty expert, Kristen Arnett, founder of Green Beauty Team (you may have seen us at our S.H.E. Summit Pop-up Event, Sustainable Self Care), to bring you an easy, cool recipe for these last few weeks of Summer. When I saw her post this on her Instagram feed, I knew I wanted it to make an appearance on my blog. 

Take it away, Kristen!

Conscious Iced Chai

Sometimes on hot, sticky summer days do you feel a bit lethargic and yearn for a soothing caffeinated, cold beverage to perk you up?

Yeah, me too!

My beverage of choice is spicy and flavorful masala chai. You might know it as “chai latte” or “chai tea”, which are fine to use, but just so you know the word “chai” is simply the Hindi word for tea and can be made with or without milk in a variety of ways.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve given up going to a big chain (primarily the one that starts with an “S”) to get a fix anymore. First, let’s talk about the non-eco-friendly-ness that getting a disposable container is costing the planet. The lid, cup and straw all end up in the landfill on an earth that is already bearing the weight of too much waste. OK – so you can bring your own container, and that will get you a gold star for sure.

Don’t go running off to buy one just yet, we have to talk about ingredients. It’s fair to say we all want clear skin, fewer wrinkles, and to feel healthier in our bodies. The concentrated “chai latte” most cafes serve contain huge amounts of sugar, which causes inflammation in the body leading to blemished skin, more wrinkles, and feeling gross. Now add in the milk or milk substitute and that’s even more sugar and potential digestion problems!

Not just that, but none of what you are consuming is organic. We could spend a lot of time going over why organic is superior to traditional food, but let’s just move forward with the agreement that ingesting chemicals – such as pesticides and herbicides – that have been strongly linked to cancer are bad news.  [source: https://deainfo.nci.nih.gov/advisory/pcp/annualReports/pcp08-09rpt/PCP_Report_08-09_508.pdf]

OK so what’s an eco-friendly, iced beverage-loving gal to do? Make her own!

Here’s my personal recipe for an organic, cool, eco chai treat. Feel free to play with the ingredients and make this your own though.

You’ll need:

A container – I prefer glass jars

A reusable straw – the one shown is a hard plastic, but even better are glass ones

1/4 cup un-homogenized, organic milk from grass fed cows (I use Ronybrook Farms which is local to NYC)

1/4 cup un-sweetened, un-flavored organic almond milk

1/2 cup of filtered water

1 scoop of organic Blue Lotus Chai mix

1 plain black tea bag – if I need a bolder flavor and more caffeine

1 tsp of raw, local honey  – this can be a big help for anyone who suffers from seasonal allergies

Lots of ice cubes

In a small saucepan add the water, milk, spices and tea. Put the heat on very low so it will warm but not come to a boil or it will compromise the beneficial properties of the raw honey. Turn the heat off after 5 minutes, stir in the raw honey and let the mixture rest in the pan to cool a bit before adding it to your glass jar filled with ice. Finally add your straw and you are set for a yummy and refreshing pick-me-up, that’s better for you and your skin and the bonus is that it will save you money too! It’s a win-win!

International makeup artist Kristen Arnett has been immersed in the world of beauty for over 15 years, with roles ranging from product development to high-profile fashion work. Shortly after receiving her business degree at University of Southern California, Kristen worked for a large cosmetics brand, collaborating on color collections and product development. Years later, she quit corporate life to become a freelance makeup artist…and never looked back. Kristen’s makeup work spans print advertising, magazines, celebrities and private clients. During fashion weeks in New York, Milan and Paris, Kristen works on the best makeup teams in the business for the biggest names in fashion.