There’s More to Making Chai than Boiling Water!

Lessons and Insights Learned Over a Period of Time

Some years ago I was on an airplane. (In these #covid19 days, that may well be a true statement!). I was going from Chicago to Narita. I had an economy-plus-business seat. What’s that? It an EcoPlus seat with an empty seat next to yours!!

Anyway… I was in the Aisle and in the Window seat was an older-than-I gentleman. He was an EXPERT in brewing Tea. The kind where tea leaves are steeped in hot water. He explained to me, in fascinating detail, the interdependence of the shape of the tea leaf and the temperature of the water it needs be steeped into for maximizing the flavor and minimizing the “other stuff” from extracting out. As he was explaining to me the various temperature ranges, I asked him “I don’t have a kitchen thermometer. Now what?”. His answer convinced me that he knew his stuff!

He told me that if the tea leaf is such and such like, you boil the water just till it starts simmering at the edges of the metal vessel. Then the temperature will be such and such.

For other kinds of tea leaf, heat the water till the first couple of streams of bubbles start forming continuously from the bottom to the top. Then the temperature will be in such and such range!

I sooo wish I had not misplaced that person’s contact information which I wrote on the napkin. Those details are now sadly lost but, there IS an art to making Tea. This much became readily obvious to me.

Some years later, I read a book: The Case Against Sugar. This is a fascinating book. One thing that caught my attention is how the Cigarette Industry used Sugar to significantly improve the curing of the nicotine in Tobacco to increase its potency in their cigarettes. I forget exactly the mechanism (its there in the book) but I found it very interesting how Sugar plays a role in extraction of components from leaves!

Image Source: Listing on Amazon.com

So, I started experimenting while making our daily #chai at home. Now, let’s get one thing out of the way:

#chai is #nottea! #chai is so much more than #tea.

I started experimenting with water temperature & at what stage to add the #chai leaves (Orange Pekoe): into cold water or to partially hot water or to water brought to full boil.

The other ingredients that go into #masala #chai also needed optimization:

When to add the #ginger? To #grate the ginger or to #crush it in a pestle-mortar?

When to add the #cardamom? Whether to #dryroast it or not?

And this can go on and on… #mintleaves for example is a nice touch. #lemongrass is another nuance.

After much experimentation, this has now become my preferred method of making #chai…

1. Crush cardamom in a pestle-mortar
2. Dry roast #cardamom in the vessel in which #chai will be made
3. Add water to the vessel
4. When the water starts simmering at the uppermost circumference of the water, add #mint or #lemongrass
5. Add the sugar (per taste). It is important to add sugar at this step since it does enhance the extraction of the ingredients.
6. When the water starts bubbling in continuous stream from the bottom to the top surface, add #ginger which is crushed, NOT grated!
7. When the water comes to a complete boil, add the #chaileaves (orange pekoe)
8. Once the water changes color or after a maximum of two minutes after adding the #chaileaves, add #milk till the desired #color of the #chai. I can’t fine tune this step beyond #color. Color is the best guide to how much milk to add.
9. Bring to a boil.
10. Strain and serve hot!
11. #enjoy #chai

• Adjust as needed by adding / removing components while maintaining the order in which they are added

#thereyouhaveit #learningtomakechai