Chai sounds better to the ears

A beverage is a beverage. I feel you choose one, stick to it and before you know it, you cannot do without it. That is the life story of coffee–lovers and tea–lovers. Not that coffee tastes better or tea smells sweeter, but because it is the effect of a habit. Some of us drink both; have the best of both worlds. To appease the mind, we call café latte’s counterpart as masala tea latte.

The popular stories…

“Oh, my health advisor said tea is good for me” is the most often narrated reason for those who transform from coffee to tea. Most of those who shift from coffee to tea have been advised to do so. Caffeine content, bad effects to health and many more reasons are accorded to it. Some also have personal reasons. Others just fall out of a habit and into a new one.

Why should I change my coffee?

A masala tea latte does not look like a good brewing cup of coffee. Its color isn’t the same, neither is the taste. Café-holics suffer to change but there is good reason why they do.

Coffee is acidic and therefore, bad for the stomach. We need to have alkaline forming food and coffee is not the best option for that. A lot of coffee can lead to increased stress levels. It is a very strong stimulant and some studies have shown that those who drink coffee throughout the day require alcohol to counteract the coffee and enable them to sleep in the night. Then, they require another cup of coffee to counteract the alcohol in the morning. This way the vicious cycle continues. Moreover, coffee is a contributory to discolouration in teeth and bad breath. Am I dismissing coffee entirely? No, not at all! I have coffee every morning. A moderate amount of it is no harm at all. Let us just avoid being over-anxious bad breathed coffee addicts.

Thinking about chai?

Tea is not the only substitute for coffee. There are plenty of options but it is the next closest beverage for a change. There are even certain kinds of tea like the pu-erh teas which are similarly coloured as coffee and have the same feel. Surely the taste is very different. Strong alternatives of tea are usually the first step. Tea isn’t acidic. It in fact is very hydrating and anti-oxidizing for the body. It fosters the immune system and is equally as stimulating as coffee just without the extreme side-effects. Varieties of Chai like the Chai lattes that are getting more popular in the present days make it out to be an interesting experience for coffee-lovers too.

How do they change?

If you are a raging coffeholic and are wondering how people change, my answer is ‘slowly’. Habits break hard and what most people do is take a very strong black tea for the start. They give the same effect as coffee and are good for the morning. Green tea is also strong and bitter but so much more of a healthier choice. Or just have a tiny sip of coffee a day and make the rest of your day all about chai by picking some incredible flavours of Chai just like the BondiChai, a premix chai latte from Australia and which has spread to Singapore. That works too…

Do I sniff chai?

The common myth…

People commonly hold this as the myth behind the origins of chai and I am going to go on and share the story. Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a king who ruled the region of India and Siam. He wanted to create a potion that would cure some sicknesses and found himself discovering the beverage we know today called ‘tea’. I don’t know how far any type of tea can cure illness but it is one hell of a beverage. Let’s just say it originated in India and leave it at that.

Tea is chai. Chai is tea.

Are chai and tea, the same thing? If you are in India, you would agree but if you are in the US, you may not. Just forget about the origin of the drink and look at the words. What I found amazing is that in the US, when you say ‘chai’, it refers to masala chai latte and its several variants. And, ‘tea’ is regular milk tea latte. Tea may be chai.

What is it that I am smelling?

A whiff of vanilla, cardamom? Ginger? There’s more. Some say tea was created 5000 years ago. If it tasted the same way and made the same way for that many long years, what boredom! Masala Chai Latte is just any spice in your tea to add adventure to your palette. In Asian countries, these can be ginger tea, cardamom tea, cinnamon tea, mint tea, lemon tea, honey tea and more. We have so many new flavours brewing everyday. Green tea and black tea have their own flavours strong and hard. So, what am I smelling? It’s tea that doesn’t smell like tea anymore.

How did it spread?

When we say ‘chai’, we think of masala chai and India. But in China, there was tea far before India. Did it begin from China, we don’t know. But there is evidence of its existence there even before Christ. Now, that is a long time. At a point in time, India imported tea from China before producing affordable tea for the masses. In the 1940s, it was Indian restaurants that brought chai to the US. It spread so far and wide and in such an intense manner that they had to create new flavours of chai. Today, you can get a cup of chai just anywhere.

New funky tea flavours

Like I said, we are not monotonous people. Check out some new flavours that I came across. There is Tapioca Bubble tea, also known as pearl tea. This originated in Taiwan not too long ago and what they do is that they pour flavoured tea over ice and serve it with candy-like tapioca balls. The flavours range from strawberry, watermelon, almonds and coconut. I cannot imagine how coconut tea would taste like! There is also tea made with evaporated milk in Hongkong and tea made from heavy cream in Germany. Adding to the list, I found this one the BondiChai, one of Aussies’ favourites and one that is spreading fast in the Singapore markets. The definition of ‘masala’ has widened. And it is up to you to give it a try. Meet you again with another interesting and scintillating Chai flavour of course tea flavour.