Chai when homemade varies person to person. A very simple form of chai is just tea, milk and black pepper. More elaborate is any number of spices including saffron. Some even add a dash of salt. You can go less authentic by adding vanilla but it's all done to taste. When making chai on the stovetop my preferred ratio is one part milk to two parts water with loose ceylon and any variation of cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, fresh ginger, dry chilli, black or pink peppercorns and saffron (not all of these at once, do what suits you). Double boil it to make it stronger and frothier. It's easy to burn the sugar so add it towards the end - IMO a little sugar is necessary to bring out the flavour of the spices but I don't like it hypersweet like those store-bought karak chais.