When I was preparing for the UPSC exam, I would spend a considerable amount of time at the David Sassoon Library at Kala Ghoda. At about 4 PM, a couple of us – fellow aspirants of various exams would step out of its cool environs and walk down to the bustling corner of Wodehouse Road.
Opposite the Sahakari Bhandar (now defunct), there was a chai tapri (stall) which served strong ginger tea infused with lemongrass. This refreshing cutting tea would set the mood for the evening study session which would go on until the library shut down at 9 PM.
Years later, I still frequent that stall each time I find myself in Colaba. The chai has not changed but the quantity has. Covid and inflation replaced all the quintessential cutting chai glasses with small paper cups. Cutting chai emerged as a typical Bombay invention when a full cup of tea was divided into 2 smaller portions and served in smaller glasses. This ensured wider and repeated coverage without sacrificing affordability. While nowadays to maintain the fixed price point of 5-7 Rupees, the cutting has been further cut down to a mere few sips which many of us savour very carefully now, observing the rain and traffic at our local tapris.
Around the same time period, the Tea Cafe culture started to mushroom. I remember back in 2015 when the first Chaayos outlet opened in Bandra, it was quite unique, strange even, to taste the humble chai in a cafe setting. Even though outlets such as Wagh Bakri Tea Lounge long existed in Vile Parle, this experience was different.
This became the norm as Chai Point, Tea Villa Cafe and others mushroomed. Boutique tea became acceptable and higher end cafes such as Taj Mahal Tea House opened up which completed the gentrification of chai. MBA Chaiwallah, Chai Sutta Bar sat somewhere midway between a cafe and a tapri. Yewale Amruttulya is a no-frills chai chain which seem to be addressing the general market for a good strong cutting in Mumbai, whereas the same is being done by Punekar Chai in Bangalore.
In Bangalore, finding sunthi chai (ginger tea) by the roadside is difficult. So it was a delight when a Chai Point outlet opened at my office. Their ginger tea was outstanding. But there was a problem. It varied everyday, unlike at my favourite tapris which were defined by their consistency in taste. The chai turned superlative when the counter was manned by one Mr. Kamble from Latur, but as soon as he would go on leave, the chai quality would vary. I observed this to be the case in the Chaayos outlet in Bandra as well. The chai wouldn’t taste the same every time unlike say an espresso brewed at your local Blue Tokai or Third Wave outlet.
Is it because coffee preparation is largely a factor of the quality of coffee and the equipment used (a good machine?). Unlike tea which has more variables influencing its outcome. That could be the reason why chai reflects the skill of the person preparing it. The art of brewing a good cup of tea is indeed difficult. That is why machine tea is mostly terrible and best avoided at all costs, even worse than dip-dip tea bags or premix, which are sometimes unavoidable, such as times when you are on a long distance train.
No amount of corporate standardisation can guarantee a good cup of chai. Therefore there is only so much that any amount of training can deliver every cup with the same consistency, especially if you don’t have the same staff stationed at the outlets for longer periods. One thing however, which can help these outlets is to take customer feedback very seriously, as Mr. Kamble would do at the Samsung outlet. Each time he would ask me in Marathi – chaha kasa ahe? (how is the chai?) And he would listen carefully to my feedback, taking great care to incorporate it in the next batch that he brewed. This meant that as long as he was stationed at the outlet, I got my morning and evening fix – kadak, adrak chai everyday.
So while these chai chains fix the problem of consistency, I will continue my quest of discovering my favourite chai tapris.
A small list is given below:
Mumbai:
- Sahakari Bhandar Chai: Opposite Regal Cinema, MLA Bhavan
- Stall opposite People’s Book House: Fort
Bangalore:
- Chai Tunes, Kormangala, Near Jyoti Nivas College
Varanasi:
- Pappu Tea Stall