Chai Pilgrimage

A wallah is one who performs a specific task. A rickshaw wallah drives the rickshaw, a dhobi wallah washes clothes and chai wallahs, you guessed it, they make chai. Chai wallahs are everywhere in India. Everywhere. From busy urban street corners to hidden alleyways, at bus depots and railway platforms and walking through the train car, along riversides and on footpaths that lead to pilgrimage sites in the middle of nowhere — when you need a fresh cup of tea, the chai wallah is always near.

Chai wallahs take pride in their chai. After all, each and every day, it is their responsibility to sustain and nurture the masses by providing the beverage that keeps India running.

To stand out from the rest, many chai wallahs develop a stylized preparation and presentation for their chai.

Some chai wallahs put a little something special in their chai, a smashed up nub of ginger, a pinch of garam masala powder, or a strand of saffron on top, to make it unique and keep their customers coming back. Often it is the performance that sells the chai. Many chai wallahs let the chai boil up until an instant before it is going to spill over the side, then with great agility, swirl the pot an inch over the flame, suspending it in an almost-boiling-over state before removing it from the heat, then doing the trick again. In Kolkatta we witnessed the “metre-pour”, where the chai wallah blends the chai by pouring it back and forth between the pots at two arm-lengths apart.  Frothy chai latte to go?

Most chai wallahs prepare their chai in small batches on a per order basis. In large cities, however, the chai business is often divided into one central chai wallah who makes enormous batches of chai, and the sellers who fill orders and deliver to local shops. For the chai courier, the faster you can run through the congested city, the more chai you can sell.

It is often the same at train stations, where many chai wallahs are selling from the same huge vat. When pulling into a train station in India, the first sound you hear is the chorus of chai wallahs singing their sales pitch. Breaking chai into two syllables and accentuating the second, ‘chai-eeeeeee, chai-eeeeeee’, the chai vendors signal their location to the passengers. You can just hang out the window and get a chai to go. If a loud voice doesn’t draw attention, a creative performance on the train can make a sale. Walking down the aisles, some wallahs display their skills by pouring the chai in a long thin stream, as far from the cup as possible, without spilling a drop.

I generally like to purchase my chai from the wallah with the best vibes — one who is wearing a smile and keeps a clean chai stall. In Benares, at Raju chai stand, under a tree on the orange and white steps of Assi Ghat, I watched a young chai wallah as he made his first pot of chai of the day. I was surprised to see several people waiting on the steps for their morning chai when there were several other chai wallahs in view already serving. I sat down to wait with them. After brewing his chai, the young man strained the boiled pot into a stainless steel teakettle. He then closed his eyes and appeared to make a silent invocation as he poured a small offering of chai next to the orange cooking burner flame. (In India, fire is revered as the ancient Vedic God, Agni, and it is auspicious to first offer the fruits of your labor to the Divine.)  He then poured the first chai into a clay cup and handed it to me. I felt honored. Even though I prefer a little ginger and cardamom in my chai, instead of the Nescafe instant coffee he sprinkled on top, he became my new favorite chai wallah.

With the success of the movie Slumdog Millionaire, we have received many visitors to our what is a chai wallah? post, from those unfamiliar with the term.  To clarify the term chai wallah as it is used in the movie, and to offer a poignant example of this site’s intent, we thought it appropriate to offer an addendum to this post.  So, after reading this, please check out what is a slumdog chai wallah?

Over the years, I have to tried to emulate my Chai Guru’s chai, but could never match it.  This recipe is my own humble rendition of my very first cup of chai.  (Click on Jenny’s recipe card above to see larger or click here to download and print.) Enjoy.

spicy goat milk masala chai

–Makes ~6 10oz. cups–

Ingredients

6 cups water
3 cups goat milk
1/3 cup maple syrup (-or- 1/2 cup if you like it sweet -or- to taste; can substitute other sweetener)
3 black tea bags -OR- 3 tsp. CTC tea -OR- 6 tsp. Assam whole leaf grade tea
1/3 cup (grated) fresh ginger
1″ cinnamon stick
7 each black, white and red whole peppercorns
7 cloves
7 allspice (pimento) berries
15 green cardamom pods -OR- 1 tsp. decorticated (shell removed) cardamom
Small pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
Saffron for garnish

Recipe
1. Stop.  Breathe.  Smile.
2. Fill pot with water and put over high heat.
3. Grate ginger and add to pot.  (You can also slice thinly or smash in a mortar and pestle)
4. Grind cinnamon, peppercorns, cloves, allspice and cardamom in a mortar and pestle or spice/coffee grinder and add to pot
5.Grate nutmeg into pot
6.Bring to boil, then reduce flame and simmer for around 15 minutes
7.Add goat milk, tea and maple syrup.
8.Turn to high heat until it comes to a rapid boil then remove from heat.
9.Strain into second pot, pour into serving cups, garnish with a few strands of saffron and offer to your Beloved Friend.

We never came across any goat milk chai in India, but here’s a goat we encountered in Benares, the morning after Shivaratri, enjoying offerings made to the Shiva Lingum.

My dear friend and teacher Hamid lovingly served me my first cup of masala chai 17 years ago. It was a moment I will never forget…sitting on the floor of his Chicago flat, the elevating aroma of incense mixed with spices, classical Indian rhythms vibrating through my being. Hamid emerged from the kitchen with two steaming cups of his spicy chai. I remember that first sip. It was the most delicious taste that had ever passed over my tongue. I sat spellbound in a chai-induced state of bliss as the chai coursed through my body. It warmed me all the way up to my soul.

I would go over to Hamid’s for tabla instruction, but before the lesson began, we would sit with our chai and embark on conversations led by our mutual love for the Divine. We would discuss spiritual practice and Hamid would illuminate the teachings of saints like Sri Ramakrishna and Bawa Muhaiyaddeen.  Hamid became a guiding light to my inner path. I learned by his living example the way of compassionate activity and the unity of all sacred traditions. Finishing the last sip of chai, the lesson was over and my drums would still be sitting in their bag. It soon became clear that tablas were not my forte and perhaps our meetings held another purpose.

When I finally asked him for his chai recipe he replied, “I’ll have to show you.” Along with the other spices he crushed up in his mortar and pestle, he would add enough peppercorns, black, white and red, to make it a fiery brew. After boiling it twice, he poured the chai back and forth between two pots to let it breath in the air element. Sometimes he would garnish it with a few strands of saffron. To me, the taste of saffron became synonymous with the heavenly taste of chai.  Still today, i use saffron as my special ingredient that rounds off the bitter taste of tea with a flowery high-note.

Hamid’s chai remains in my memory as the finest. He always made it with goat’s milk and maple syrup. When I started making my own chai, I didn’t know there was any other way. Now on those rare occasions when I drink goat milk chai, it reminds me of Hamid.

Hamid was my chai guru. He taught me not only how to make chai, but also his “secret.” He told me that chai should be prepared with prayer or mantra or loving intentions. This was the most important ingredient. It imbued the chai with a blessing that would pass onto whoever drank it. Since then, I have been preparing homemade chai almost daily. It is my ritual and my offering.