Chai Pilgrimage

There is nothing in the universe that is non-medicinal and cannot be made use of for many purposes and by many modes. — Vagbhata, Ashtanga Hrdayam

Botanical: Zingiber officinale

English: Ginger

Sanskit: Ardraka (fresh), Sunthi (dried)

Hindi: Adrak, Adarakh

Nepali: Aduwaa

In the ancient Ayurvedic tradition, ginger was referred to as Vishvabhesaja, meaning “the universal medicine.”  It has been utilized as a botanical healer around the world since antiquity for a broad range of conditions. Ginger’s warming quality counteracts many cold-induced illnesses brought on during the winter. It is a common home remedy that is safely used with children for colds, flu, sore throat and sinus congestion. It can calm stomach nausea, vomiting and motion sickness and help relieve intestinal gas and abdominal cramping, including menstrual cramps. We found it indispensable for these conditions while traveling in Nepal and India and always carried it in our daypack, eating it raw as a first aid treatment.

ginger vendor in Bhaktapur, Nepal

Ginger breaks up mucus congestion and acts as an expectorant for the lungs. It cleanses the body by burning toxins or eliminating them through the skin by promoting perspiration. By neutralizing toxins and aiding circulation, it helps treat rheumatic conditions and osteo-arthritis.

Ginger is a powerful digestive because it stimulates saliva flow, ignites the digestive fire and tones the stomach. Dr. Vasant Lad suggests eating a slice of ginger with a few drops of lime juice and a pinch of mineral salt before eating to promote digestion. As an entire medicine chest in one plant, it is a good idea to always have some on hand in your home.

Ginger is the primary spice in masala chai. The fresh root (actually a rhizome) is available at most supermarkets. To use it, grate, smash or thinly slice the fresh root and add it to the simmering masala. Using a cheese grater is the simplest method and there is no need to peel it. In a pinch, you can use dried ginger powder, but the whole, fresh ginger root will offer the best flavor.

In the Indian metropolis of Delhi, where fast-paced, cell-phone toting characters out of Monsoon Wedding live side by side with barefoot rickshaw wallahs cycling past roaming cows in the road, we visited the largest spice market in all of Asia, the bustling Khari Baoli bazaar.  At once, all our senses were over-stimulated to an amplified level. Open air shops on both sides of the road displayed sackcloth bags filled with pungent spices, bushels of fragrant flowers, nuts and sticky dried fruits, mountains of bright orange turmeric, mouth-watering sweets, gallons of gooey ghee and enough tea to steep the Indian ocean. We could barely breath.  The intense combination of indiscernible aromas oscillated our insides between gagging nausea and voracious hunger.

Carried along by the throngs of merchants corralled on the sidewalks, we watched as businessmen from all over India tested quality with a sniff or a taste and marked a deal with a head waggle.  Shopkeepers weighed out goods the old-fashioned way, with iron weights on a balance scale.  In the street, thin men carried burlap sacks bigger and heavier than their own bodies, loading them onto hand drawn wooden carts. Whether you need 5 grams or 500 kilos, goods are sold in bulk at rock-bottom wholesale prices.  We walked away with precious clear gift boxes filled with delicate red saffron strands from Kashmir.  This is the ideal place to look at some of the spices used to make masala chai, and their medicinal properties.

As we traveled throughout India researching chai, one question we asked people as we sat around the chai stalls was, “What is the origin of masala chai?” The response we heard, more than any other, was that it is “grandmothers’ tea.”  Grandmother, the traditional caretaker of the household, would brew a blend of plant roots, bark and seeds if a family member became ill, or as a tonic to keep them healthy through the changing seasons. Some of the ingredients now found in a classic cup of masala chai are useful for cold, flu, stomach ailments, digestion, lungs and other common maladies.  These family recipes were handed down from mother to daughter to granddaughters over generations spanning hundreds or even thousands of years.

Then came the Brits. Back in Britain, folks had developed quite an expensive habit for Chinese tea, their most popular beverage.  To make a long story of greed, slavery, drug smuggling, war, deforestation and imperialism short, Britain’s East Indian Company, who wanted independence from the high cost of China tea, took over areas in northeast India to establish their own tea plantations.  This turned India into a big, profitable tea party and opened the floodgates, unleashing an ocean of tea on the subcontinent.

One popular belief, or chai conspiracy story, we heard many times during our travels, is that the British first dispensed tea at no cost to the Indian population, knowing its addictive nature and seeing an enormous new local market.  The marketing plan worked, as even now, India is the world’s largest producer and consumer of tea.  Eventually tea, with its energy giving medicine, made its way into grandma’s spice decoctions.  Add some milk and sugar, coming from both traditional Indian Ayurvedic and British tea-time traditions, and masala chai was born.  There is, of course, no way to verify this chai creation theory, but it seems plausible.

Later, the British tradition of tea sipping seeped into Indian culture.  People (generally men) would gather outside there home on the streets to drink chai and socialize.  Chai stalls became the new meeting place.  At the dhabas, or Indian 24 hour truckstops, Punjabi truck drivers demanded a strong cup of masala chai as a restorative drink to get them through the long hours of driving.  And in homes, chai became the symbol of hospitality.

The inception of masala chai seems to have its roots in a crossroads of cultures, beginning with the Indian grandmothers, coming together in the subcontinent.  It has only recently become hugely popular in the West, particularly in the U.S.  This is an historic ironical twist, considering America was founded on dumping tea into the ocean as an act of civil disobedience, with the Boston Tea Party becoming a symbol of tax resistance and revolution.

Chai is such an integral part of Indian culture, I think they must look at us and wonder “What is such the big deal with chai?”  As a foolish American chai lover, I offer my humble thank you to the long line of grandmothers on the other side of the world, who gave us the gift of masala chai.

Hamro Nepali hajuramma (our Nepali grandmother in Darjeeling, India)

There’s a gazillion ways to make masala chai. Once you get the hang of it, you can create customized blends depending on your personal taste, the time of day, or the occasion. We like a thick, milky chai for breakfast. For kids, a “chai-less masala chai,” that is, everything but the black tea, can be a healthy treat. For your lover, sweeten it with maple syrup, spice it up with cinnamon and adorn with saffron – mmmmm.

Chai formulas can change with the seasons, too. On a hot summer day, throw in some cooling coriander seeds or even fresh mint – but forget about the cloves and black pepper. In the winter, if you are sick with a cold, flu or congestion, make a warming, gingery batch. The masala chai tradition began this way centuries ago with grandmothers using spice decoctions as home remedies – later tea was added.

Everyone can enjoy chai. Even if you don’t drink black tea or milk or use sugar, you can substitute herbal teas like rooibos, milk alternatives like soy or rice milk and natural sweeteners such as maple syrup, sucanat or licorice root. There are endless combinations and nuances. In upcoming posts, we will offer insight into traditional and non-traditional ingredients, various preparation techniques, health value of the spices and tips we picked up in our travels. We hope this will enhance your appreciation for chai as you experiment and evolve with your own creative chai-making. Here is a simple recipe to get you started, in case you’ve never prepared your own masala chai.

5 cups water
1/4 cup loosely packed, grated fresh ginger
1” cinnamon stick
1 cup organic whole milk
1/4 cup raw sugar (like Sucanat)
10 green cardamom pods
4 tsp. loose Assam tea (or 4 tea bags)

makes 5 8-ounce cups

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Pour water into pot and put over high heat.
Grate fresh ginger with a cheese grater and add to pot.
Break cinnamon stick, add to pot and stir.
Reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Thoroughly grind cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle or spice/coffee grinder.
Add milk, sugar and cardamom to the masala and stir.
Increase heat and bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
Add tea, stir and cover.
Steep tea for 3-5 minutes depending on desired potency, then immediately strain into separate pot to avoid over-steeping.