I always start with the black tea (just cheap whatever, Lipton right now), and cardamom pods, and fennel.
To this base i added here: cloves, cinnamon, ginger. Sometimes I add chili flakes, or tumeric, but not this time
I start by cracking open the spices. Whole spices hold the flavor better than powder, and are easier to filter out later. I like it strong, and use a lot of the spices
Toast the spices, when they get fragrant add the water and ginger slices. 1/2 mug of water per mug of final product. Boil that for a good while, lid on to prevent boil off. How long? I don’t know, i usually go and do something. 10 or 20 minutes?
Add the tea. 5 to 7 minutes, one bag per mug of final product. Don’t forget it, or it gets bitter. But more sweetener fixes that
Then, add the milk, as much as the water was added. DON’T WALK AWAY! Low fat milk doesn’t work great, but at some point the heat and fat content results in a billowing foam (there’s a photo). This boils up fast, when it comes, and the mess is not fun to clean up. When it starts to foam up just lift the pot off the heat and it falls back quickly, then put it back and let it foam, repeat this a few times (i don’t know why, that’s how my indian roommates did it, I guess because that’s how their moms did it)
Sweeten to taste. I use honey not white sugar because it should be very sweet, or it isn’t quite the same. I usually start sweeting while waiting for the milk to foam