How to prepare basic Indian Tea?

You may think when everyone is posting Masala tea recipe, why has she come up with a basic tea recipe? To be very frank, I do not know how to prepare good tea till few months back. Whatever proportions I follow, I end up with many imperfections..!!! I make it watery or milky or thick. I cannot blame myself too because I am from a family who buy tea powders very rare or only for the tea-loving guests. I have had chukku coffee, chukku malli coffee, filter coffee, capuccinno and what not!! We buy coffee powder from the shops that grinds coffee powder and rarely buy instant coffee powder.

I had tea only when it was served in my office. Also, when I become too tired or lazy, I simply like to drink coffee from the machine in the office. So tea was of very less importance in life. On the contrast (but as usual), my Hus is a tea lover. He likes to taste and try different varieties of tea available in the world. Here in Jeddah, we get tea bags and powders from every brand available from all over the world. I had to invest much time in finding a way to make better (at least) tea as he has the habit of drinking tea 2-3 times a day.

I searched on internet but nothing gave me a perfect tea recipe that my Hus is looking for though I got to learn different tea recipes and few ideas. At last, after many trial and errors, this recipe is successful and now it has become a regular drink here.

Ingredients:

Tea powder 2.5 tsp (levelled)

Sugar 1 1/4 tsp for a cup

Water 1 whole cup

Fresh Milk 1 whole cup

Cardamom pods 3-4

Preparation:

Slit Cardamom pods.

Method:

In a Pan, heat water and cardamom pods together. When it starts boiling well,  add the tea powder.

When it starts boiling well and lets out nice aroma, (this would take much less time than boiling water), add the milk. (If you need light tea, stop boiling within very few seconds. If you want it strong, boil it for few more minutes and can add up to 3 tsp of tea powder.)

Boil milk as usual. 

Strain. Add sugar and then serve with biscuits of your choice. 

This would serve two with 3/4 cups of tea. The cardamom pods lets out great aroma and gives nice flavor to the tea. I feel a little more sugar (than needed for a coffee )adds much more taste to the tea.