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Camel milk tea is one of the most traditional ways to enjoy camel milk, and in Somali homes it has a name: shaah cadays, black tea simmered with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and ginger, then finished with milk. If you have a few bottles of camel milk in the freezer and a cold evening ahead, this camel milk tea recipe is the one to start with.
Quick answer: To make camel milk tea the Somali way, simmer black tea with water, sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and ginger for about five minutes. Then lower the heat, pour in thawed camel milk, and warm it gently until it steams. Strain it into glasses and serve it hot. The whole thing takes about 15 minutes.
What Is Somali Shaah, the Original Camel Milk Tea?
Shaah simply means tea in Somali. Food writer Ifrah F. Ahmed describes it as a cousin of the spiced chais of Yemen, Kenya and India, and notes that Somali families often leave out the black pepper and add the milk after the tea has brewed rather than during. Tea with milk is shaah cadays. Tea without milk goes by shaah bigays or shaah rinji.
In her new cookbook, Soomaaliya, Ifrah Ahmed recommends shaah as the first recipe for anyone new to Somali cooking. "Shaah is the first thing you'll be served in a Somali household. It's representative of Somali hospitality culture," she told Seattle University Magazine. The spices tell a story too. Ifrah Ahmed points out that Somalia has the longest coastline in mainland Africa and trading ties along the Indian Ocean that go back centuries, and those routes shaped Somali cooking. You can taste that history in a cup scented with cardamom, cloves and cinnamon.
Shaah shows up all day long: at breakfast with canjeero, at gatherings, and above all during casariyo, the afternoon tea break, often with something sweet like bur, a fried dough. In the pastoral Somali Region of Ethiopia, Doctors Without Borders observed that serving sweet black tea with camel milk sits at the center of any Somali social gathering. Camel milk tea isn't a new trend. It's a habit that goes back generations. If you want the bigger picture, read why Somali culture values camel milk so highly.
In Somalia, camels and tea go together. Photo: Warfaa Jibriil via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Camel Milk Tea Recipe (Shaah Cadays)
This camel milk tea recipe makes about 4 small glasses or 2 large mugs. Takes about 15 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups Juba Farms camel milk, thawed and shaken
- 2 tablespoons loose black tea, or 4 black tea bags
- 6 green cardamom pods
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 inch of fresh ginger, sliced (or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar, to taste
- Optional: 3 or 4 black peppercorns, if your family likes a little bite
Steps
- Crack the spices. Lightly crush the cardamom pods, cloves and cinnamon with a mortar and pestle or the flat side of a knife. You only want to break them open, not grind them to powder.
- Wake them up. Toast the crushed spices in a dry saucepan over medium heat for about a minute, until they smell fragrant.
- Brew the tea. Add the water, ginger, tea and sugar. Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the tea is dark and strong.
- Add the camel milk. Turn the heat to low and pour in the camel milk. Warm it gently, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, just until it steams and small bubbles form at the edge. There's no need to bring it to a hard boil.
- Strain and serve. Pour the tea through a fine strainer into glasses or mugs and serve it right away.
Want it stronger? Use less milk or let the tea simmer longer before you add it. Want it milkier? Swap a little of the water for more camel milk. Every Somali family has its own ratio for camel milk tea, and some recipes, like the one Hawa Hassan shares in In Bibi's Kitchen, do include black pepper. There is no single right answer.
Cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom, the backbone of a pot of shaah. Photo: Alexander Talos-Zens via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Why Camel Milk Tea Tastes So Good
Camel milk tastes a lot like 2% cow's milk: light, smooth and clean, a little less sweet, and never gamey. In a pot of camel milk tea, that matters. It doesn't fight with the cardamom or cover up the tea, so the spices come through clearly and you stay in control of the sweetness.
It also doesn't weigh the cup down. Here's how a serving of Juba Farms camel milk compares, straight from our label:
| Per 8 fl oz serving | Juba Farms camel milk |
|---|---|
| Calories | 110 |
| Total fat | 4.5 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Total sugars | 8 g (0 g added) |
| Calcium | 455 mg (35% DV) |
Our 16 oz label also notes that camel milk has 43% less fat, 25% more iron and 3x the vitamin C of cow's milk. It's also naturally a little lower in lactose than cow's milk on average (meta-analysis), which is one reason some people reach for it in the first place. The only ingredient is camel milk. Nothing is added, and nothing is taken out.
One more tip: our camel milk is not homogenized, so the cream can separate a little after thawing. That's normal. Give the bottle a good shake before you measure it out. Here's more on why camel milk separates after thawing.
Making Camel Milk Tea With Frozen Camel Milk
Juba Farms is named after the Juba River, which runs 680 miles through Somalia and is our family's ancestral home. Shaah is part of that story, and we make it with the same milk we ship to you.
Our milk comes from U.S. farms. It's pasteurized, bottled and frozen to lock in freshness, so frozen is the same as fresh: same taste, same nutrition, once it's thawed. A few habits make it easy to keep milk on hand for camel milk tea:
- Thaw in the fridge. Move a bottle from the freezer to the fridge a day or so before you need it. Don't thaw it in the microwave or in warm water.
- Use it within 14 days. Frozen bottles keep for up to 6 months. Once thawed, keep the bottle refrigerated and use it within 14 days.
- Pick the right size. The 16 oz bottle is about one pot of shaah for four. If tea is a daily habit at your house, the 1 liter bottle goes further.
- Warm gently. Our milk is already pasteurized, so it only needs to get hot enough to drink. Low heat keeps the flavor sweet and keeps it from scorching on the bottom of the pan.
Curious how frozen milk compares to fresh? We break it down in fresh vs frozen camel milk.
Our only ingredient: camel milk from U.S. farms.
When to Serve Camel Milk Tea
Shaah fits almost any time of day, but a few moments call for it:
- Breakfast. Pair a glass with canjeero, the thin Somali pancake, or with toast and eggs.
- The afternoon break. Make a pot around casariyo time and set out cookies, dates or bur.
- When guests come over. In Somali homes, tea is how you say welcome, so it's the first thing to put on the stove. As Hawa Hassan puts it, the most important thing to serve with shaah cadays is sheeko, the Somali word for stories.
- Winter evenings and holidays. A spiced pot of camel milk tea is easy to make for a crowd when the weather turns cold.
Leftover camel milk tea keeps in a covered container in the fridge for up to a day, according to Ifrah Ahmed's Washington Post recipe. Rewarm it gently on the stove rather than boiling it.
Looking for more ways to cook with camel milk? Try our 5 easy camel milk recipes, which include a spiced camel milk chai.
Variations to Try
- Cardamom only. Some families keep it simple with just cardamom and a little sugar. It lets the camel milk shine.
- Ginger forward. Double the ginger for a cup with more warmth.
- Less sugar. Camel milk is a little less sweet than cow's milk, so start with less sugar and add to taste.
- A make-ahead spice jar. Grind a bigger batch of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and dried ginger, store it in a sealed jar, and use about a teaspoon per pot.
Bring Camel Milk Tea Home
Juba Farms camel milk ships frozen, packed in an insulated cooler with dry ice, on Mondays and Tuesdays. Your bottles may arrive fully frozen, partly frozen or starting to thaw, and that's normal as long as they're cold. Our cold delivery guarantee has your back: if your milk arrives warm, send us a photo within 24 hours and we'll make it right. Orders start at a 3-pack in either 16 oz or 1 liter bottles, so you'll have enough for plenty of pots of camel milk tea. Put the kettle on, crack a few cardamom pods, and make your first pot of camel milk tea this week.
Camel Milk (16 oz)
$39.00
$48.00
Introducing Juba Farms' Pure Camel Milk: Nature's Liquid Gold We are proud to present our 100% Pure Lightly Pasteurized Camel Milk. This incredible super drink offers a remarkable range of health benefits and is sourced from the best camel farms,… read more
Camel Milk (1 Liter)
$63.00
$78.00
Introducing Juba Farms' Pure Camel Milk: Nature's Liquid Gold We are proud to present our 100% Pure Lightly Pasteurized Camel Milk. This incredbile super drink offers a remarkable range of health benefits and is sourced from the best camel farms,… read more
Sources
- Ifrah F. Ahmed, "Shaah, a sweet and spiced Somali chai, is just the thing for your afternoon tea break," The Washington Post, October 29, 2021. washingtonpost.com
- Kiyomi Kishaba, "A Celebration of Somali Culture and Cuisine," Seattle University Magazine, July 15, 2026. seattleu.edu
- Hawa Hassan with Julia Turshen, "Shaah Cadays (Somali Spiced Tea With Milk)," Epicurious, from In Bibi's Kitchen. epicurious.com
- Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Eastern Africa, "Ethiopia: Outreach to pastoralist Somali communities over sweet tea," May 12, 2019. msf.or.ke
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of camel milk composition, 2022 (79 studies). PubMed 35430763
- Review of camel milk composition, 2025, Table 1 (lactose ranges for camel and cow milk). PMC11799641
- Juba Farms 16 oz pasteurized camel milk label (nutrition facts, storage, ingredients).
Photo credits: Top photo by Miansari66 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain (cropped). Camels by Warfaa Jibriil via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Spices by Alexander Talos-Zens via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Bottle photo by Juba Farms.
