Stepping out of my warm bed, I make my way to the kitchen. I fill the kettle with water. Bleakly, I wait for the water to boil. I add black tea leaves, crushed cardamom and cinnamon. The water comes to a full boil. My body, mind and senses start tingling as the smell of tea and spices waft from the kettle. To this dark decoction, I add generous amount of milk and sugar. I let the tea steep for a minute. I pour out a tall cup of the sweet tea, or Chai - an invigorating way to start my day. As I sip my Chai, my mind wanders back to my travel in India.
Chai is the beverage that is the common thread that runs from the length and breadth of India - Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Surat to Patna - “unity in diversity.” The whole country is dotted with numerous Chai stalls and from dawn to dusk, thousands of people converge into these stalls (think about the squares in Europe) – office goers, laborers, philosophers, poets, writers and occasional tourists. Anytime is an occasion to have a cup of Chai.
The subtle differences in Chai from different regions are amazing. In North India, the “Chai” is creamier, sweeter, and spiced with Cardamom, ginger, cinnamon or pepper – the result, the delicious “Masala” Chai to warm one’s cockles on a cold winter morning. In the East, “Cha” is served in a Kullhar or Mutka, tiny clay cups, which give the Chai a distinct earthy flavor. An experience to die for, whilst you sit and enjoy the fragrant breeze from the endless green rice fields. Down south, “Chaiya” is served in shot glasses. Your jaws drop as you watch the “Chaiya Master” beat up a creamy froth (did the Italians steal this idea for their equally delicious cappuccino?) by pouring the tea energetically back and forth between two glasses – the result of this rhythm is a tiny shot glass of purely delicious frothy “Chaiya”! The Indian Chai experience is not complete without the “Irani Chai”, the recipe that was imported by the Iranians living in Hyderabad. The tea is distinctly Iranian (the tea leaves are processed in a different way) but the Indians have heartily adopted this foreigner as their own.
The crowning glory of my Indian tea experience was the Kashmiri tea Kahva, a green tea infused with crushed almonds, green cardamom, cinnamon and strands of saffron. This aromatic tea becomes a exhilarating experience when sipped aboard the Shikara’s (a wooden boat) elaborately carved wooden verandas while drifting across a crystal clear lake high in the Himalayan Mountains.
Wherever you are in this country, you can be sure of one thing – a cup of good ole’ Indian Chai!
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Laurie