Monday, April 25, 2011

"C" is for chai :)

In India as a whole, coffee drinking isn't as popular as it is in the US. You hard core coffee drinkers will be appalled to hear that it's hard to even find coffee that is not (gasp!) instant :( BUT instead of a cup o' joe, the caffeinated beverage of the masses is... you guessed it, chai! And it's so good it might make you forget about your coffee. There are chai stands along the roadsides where people, especially men, will stop to drink chai and talk. But people also make chai in their homes on a daily, often multiple times a day, basis. You can hardly step foot in someones home here without being offered chai and snacks :)

Now I'm sure you are at least familiar with the starbucks version of chai, which I do like, but I'm here to tell you that it's not real chai! First of all, in India they drink chai from teeny, tiny cups. Like about the size of my daughter's toy tea cups, no kidding. Which is probably a good thing considering how much sugar they usually add, and the fact that they typically drink it more than once a day! The real deal in India is black tea made from tea powder (not bags!) and boiled on the stove, then milk is added, boiled some more, then sugar and like I said, LOTS of it, is added. Sometimes they will spice it up with ginger or cardamom, I'm not a huge fan of either. Just give me plain and simple chai pretty please! Lastly, they will put a strainer over a cup to strain out the leaves. Every Indian kitchen has at least one strainer. They're essential, because chai is essential, of course! One of the most famous brands of chai in India is called "Taj Mahal." Guess what the logo is? Kidding!




A few months ago, this is what I saw in my cup as I was about to have my afternoon chai break :)







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