Chai is a verb

I. The ratio

The ratio of milk to water determines what kind of chai you are making. More water: lighter, tea-forward. More milk: richer, creamier, with tea as background.

Mumbai tapri chai is approximately two-thirds milk to one-third water — closer to a milk-based beverage with tea in it than to tea with milk. This is the chai I grew up with. The ratio is the first point at which chai becomes personal. You make it the way your household drinks it, which means you cannot make it from a recipe. I can give you the method. I cannot give you the ratio.

II. The method

Water and milk in the pot together, cold. Not separately, not hot water then milk — together, cold, from the beginning. Milk added to boiling water behaves differently than milk that has been heated alongside the water from the start.

Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the ginger when the milk is hot but before it simmers — long enough to infuse, not long enough to make it sharp. Then the tea: CTC black tea, specifically. The small pellets release tannins and colour quickly and completely, which is correct for chai. Whole-leaf Darjeeling produces a wrong result — too delicate for the milk and spice.

Simmer 1 to 2 minutes. Add sugar at the end. Strain through fine mesh. The fragrance of the ginger and tea rising with the steam is the smell of the beginning of something.

III. The spices

Ginger is the foundation of masala chai. Without ginger it is tea with milk — perfectly acceptable, not chai. Cardamom is the second most important. Cardamom without ginger produces a perfumed tea. Ginger and cardamom together produce chai.

The others are additions based on household preference: cinnamon for warmth, cloves for depth, black pepper for a different kind of heat than the ginger, fennel in some western Indian traditions. The «chai spice» sold in Western grocery stores is a commercial standardisation of what is, in practice, a personal decision.

IV. The chai latte question

A chai latte is steamed milk with a chai concentrate. It is a product of Western coffee culture applied to Indian tea. It is not chai. This is not a condemnation — it is a different drink that uses the name and some of the flavour profile.

Chai, as I understand it, is something you make. The making is part of what it is.

Recipe — Masala Chai · The Household Method

Anjali Mehta · Mumbai · serves 2 · 5 min · drink immediately

• Serves 2
• 5 min total
• 1:1 milk:water
• 2 tsp CTC tea

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup full-fat whole milk
• 2 tsp CTC black tea (or strong Assam)
• 1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated or pounded
• 3 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• Sugar, to taste (optional)

The method

1. Combine water and milk in a small saucepan. Add ginger and cardamom pods.
2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, watching carefully — milk boils over quickly and without warning.
3. Add tea. Stir. Simmer 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. The longer you simmer, the stronger the tea and the more it will reduce.
4. Add sugar if using. Stir. Bring briefly back to a simmer.
5. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into two glasses or cups.
6. Drink immediately. Chai does not improve by sitting.

About the contributor

Anjali Mehta

Anjali Mehta writes about chai and Indian tea culture from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Her household ratio is two-thirds milk to one-third water and she will not be moved on it.

Editor’s notes — the longer view

A note on CTC. Cut, Tear, Curl. The processing was developed in Assam in the 1930s and gives chai its characteristic strength and quick brew. The small pellets release tannins, colour, and astringency faster than whole leaves, which is what you want when the tea has to hold its own against full-fat milk and aggressive spice.

A note on the cup. The Indian chai cup is small — 100 to 150 ml — because chai is strong, sweet, and meant to be drunk hot in two or three sips. A 300 ml mug will cool before you finish it. Clay cups (kulhads) are the ideal at the tapri because they impart a faint earth flavour and are thrown away after use.

A note on the milk. Full-fat. The fat carries the spice and rounds the tannins. Skim milk produces a thin, slightly bitter chai. Oat milk produces a chai that is interesting but not the chai I am describing. Buffalo milk, where available, is even better.

A note on the time. Chai is a 4 p.m. drink. Or a morning drink. Or a guest-just-arrived drink. The making of chai is a way of marking a moment, which is why ordering it from a machine misses the point.

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