Masala chai calories
A cup of masala chai made with 50 ml of toned milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar has about 60 calories. Without sugar it's about 30, and 3 cups with 2 teaspoons each come to about 185. Sugar matters most: each level teaspoon adds about 16. Tapri or station chai, sweeter and milkier, runs about 60 to 105 a cup.
Masala chai is tea leaves boiled with water, milk and sugar, with ginger, cardamom and other spices. In Gujarat it's usually sweet and milky; Mumbai's cutting chai is strong and served as half a glass.
Tea leaves and spices add almost nothing. The calories are in the milk and the sugar, and the sugar is usually the bigger share.
Typical values for a home kitchen, for the portion named next to each number. Other sites often show bigger numbers because they count a bigger serving or a restaurant recipe. Your own katori, roti and oil change the number; Slate adjusts for them.
How many calories are in masala chai?
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cup, no sugar | 30 | 2 g | 2 g | 2 g |
| 1 cup, 1 tsp sugar | 45 | 2 g | 7 g | 2 g |
| 1 cup, 2 tsp sugar | 60 | 2 g | 11 g | 2 g |
| 1 cutting chai (half a cup), 1 tsp sugar | 30 | 1 g | 5 g | 1 g |
| 1 cup with 50 ml buffalo milk, 2 tsp sugar | 85 | 2 g | 13 g | 3 g |
How does home masala chai compare with outside?
Chai from a tapri or a station is often sweeter and milkier than home chai, sometimes made with buffalo milk. A cutting chai is half a glass, so it's about half of a cup.
Nobody has measured tapri chai in a lab that we could find, so the range below allows up to a teaspoon more sugar and a little more full-fat milk.
| Version | Cals | Fat |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 60 | 2 g |
| Tapri or station chai | 60 to 105 | 2 to 3 g |
Calories in 2 or 3 cups of masala chai
| Portion | Cals | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 cups of chai, 2 tsp sugar each | 125 | 3 g | 22 g | 3 g |
| 3 cups of chai, 2 tsp sugar each | 185 | 5 g | 32 g | 5 g |
What changes the calories in masala chai?
- Each level teaspoon of sugar adds about 16 calories, and a heaped home teaspoon holds more.
- Toned milk (3% fat) is the lightest common choice. Full-cream and buffalo milk add more per cup.
- A cutting chai is half a cup, and a large mug can be twice one.
- Several cups a day add up: each cup with 2 teaspoons of sugar is about 60 calories.
How were these numbers worked out?
A cup of chai on Slate follows ICMR-NIN's own tea: 50 ml of toned milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar, topped up with about 150 ml of water and tea leaves. Toned milk is valued from Amul Taaza's label (3% fat, FSSAI's toned standard), buffalo milk from IFCT 2017 and sugar from USDA at 4.2 g per level teaspoon. Water, tea leaves and spices add under a calorie, so the cup is counted from its milk and sugar alone: 30 calories with no sugar, 60 with two teaspoons. The one cross-check is NIN's 75 calories for the same cup; the 22% gap comes from the teaspoon, which NIN seems to count at about 5 g, so the page shows both ends as a range. No tapri or station chai has been measured, so the outside range is the same cup with up to one more teaspoon of sugar and up to 25 ml more buffalo milk. Every dish on Slate is worked out the same way: how Slate counts calories.
| Ingredient | Raw | Values from |
|---|---|---|
| Milk, toned (3% fat) | 50 g | Amul Taaza label |
| Water | 150 g | no calories |
ICMR-NIN counts this cup at 75 calories, against about 60 here. Most of the gap is the teaspoon: a level teaspoon of sugar is about 4.2 g, and many kitchen spoons hold more. A cup with 2 teaspoons of sugar is about 60 to 75 calories.
Sources
- ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians: A Manual (2011). Annexure 8: tea 75 kcal per cup; teaspoon 5 ml
- Amul Taaza toned milk, label via Dudhsagar Dairy
- ICMR-NIN, Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. Milk, whole, buffalo (L001); values read from github.com/nodef/ifct2017
- USDA FoodData Central 169655, sugars, granulated. 4.2 g per teaspoon
Questions people ask
How many calories are in a cup of chai with sugar?
A cup with 50 ml of toned milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar has about 60 calories, and about 45 with 1 teaspoon.
How many calories are in a cutting chai?
About 30 calories with a teaspoon of sugar, since it's about half a cup.
Does chai without sugar have calories?
A little, from the milk: about 30 calories a cup with 50 ml of toned milk.
Does buffalo milk chai have more calories?
Yes. With 50 ml of buffalo milk and 2 teaspoons of sugar, a cup comes to about 85, because buffalo milk has about twice the fat of toned milk.
How many calories are in 2 cups of chai?
About 125 calories with 2 teaspoons of sugar in each cup, and about 185 for 3 cups. Without sugar, a cup is about 30.