As already mentioned, I tend to be quite melancholic about stuff, remembering things and going back by the mere look, smell or taste of things. For some it’s a familiar song, for others the smell of incense or a yummy dish. One of the things that is the simplest and the easiest to magically enchant and hypnotize me is chai.
From the second you get out of the plane, one of the first things you feel (besides the moist, the dust and the dampness) is a specific scent. It’s a somewhat strange mixture of incense, stiff air, spices and... well, the mass. I still can’t quite put a finger on it, but I often get flashes of this specific situation. While being in the motherland (pronounce with cerebrals and wobble your head, please), maybe even more than incense (agarbatti), you’ll find yourself running into the yummy and divine liquid of – chai.
General
Originating from India and its subcontinent (चाय in Hindi and چاۓ in Urdu), it has spread out throughout the world – and yes, even England. It’s quite popular in specific parts of the world and is well known around the globe. The most common form in its motherland (head wobble again) is masala chai (मसाला चाय in Hindi), a mixture of tea leaves and aromatic spices. Masālā means spice, but I’d point out that (and let me check the dictionary first) it refers more to a mixture of ingredients than spices alone – at least when it comes to masala chai.
Chai (also pronounced chī in some areas) is, as so many others, a foreign word in the South Asian languages, but it nowadays implies a masala chai, while tea is, well... tea. Around Asia chai is most often served right in the street by vendors called chai wallahs and often in clay mugs, which is one of the nicest things, but also one of the first shocks for the India new comers. Prepared in a certain way, the chai supposedly keeps a quite higher level of caffeine than the regular tea (although less than coffee).
Different versions have come out of the whole naming system, presumably in order to distinct various types. So now there’s tea, there’s chai, masala chai, chai tea, Indian chai, chai latte, dirty chai and alike. When in India, ordering chai will most probably get you a westernized version – simply with no spices, while everyone will understand if you order a masala chai – although they’ll be quite careful with the spices (even after months or asking for, yes, spicy).
History
Tea plants have grown wild in India’s north-east parts since ancient times, so the people of those areas have been using it ever since, even though for different reasons – more as a herbal medicine and less as a recreational beverage. The British ‘East India Company’ has afterwards introduced tea as part of working breaks in order to impair the Chinese monopoly over the plantations and at the same time to support many independent chai wallahs throughout the region.
The consumption of tea was, slowly but safely, promoted around the world. In England it was served with small added amounts of milk and sugar, while the addition of spices and extra milk and sugar was initially disapproved of. The constitution of chai has nevertheless spread out around India itself and then the whole world.
 Preparation
The simplest method of preparation is to simmer or boil a mixture of milk and water with loose tea leafs, sweeteners and whole spices. Another option is adding the spices afterwards (through a cloth or a filter), which can be bought in markets around India – the name is chai masala, which is naturally tea spice. Many households blend their own masala (this is why I said that it’s a mixture of ingredients) and this is by far the best and the tastiest option! In some regions, e.g. Rajasthan, insane amounts of cardamom, sugar and pepper are added, which is surely gonna put you on fire, but you’ll fall sleep by the time you say ‘masala ch...’.
The ingredients you need for the preparation are nothing special, although they might be harder to find outside India. There are of course specialized shops where you can find them all, but it’ll hardly taste the same as the ‘original’ one. Even in India it’s hard to get bigger amounts (let’s say a year’s stack) of quality masala, since it’s become another touristy thing, so the whole production is losing on quality and becoming more massive.
The recipes are not fixed and, the same as with a lot of things, they will improve and suit your taste better the more you try them out. You’ll need the basic ingredients to make it though:
- tea: usually strong black tea
- sweetener: sugar, as you prefer it (white, brown, palm, coconut, honey or alike)
- milk: usually mixed with water (1:2)
- spices and cut tea leaves: warm spices like cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, star anise, peppercorn, cloves etc.
Chai recipes
Here’s a recipe in case you wanna try it out (and you should!):
1-1/2 cups water
1 inch stick of cinnamon
8 cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
2/3 cup milk
6 teaspoon sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any non-perfumed loose black tea
Put 1-1/2 cups water in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon, cardamom and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again. Throw in the tea leaves, cover it and turn off the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately. (This recipe serves two smaller cups, so simply scale it up if you need more.)
Luckily, it’s become common to serve chai at different gathering nowadays (like ChilliBar here in Zagreb), so the chances of enjoying a cup or two are even greater. Now go run into a chai wallah...
For more information, products and feedback, feel free to check out chai.com, chai-tea.org and more...
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