Tea Stories N° 4

a journey into the world of tea and beyond

In this series, I write about travels on which I have learned about tea and have experienced hospitality. There is surprising diversity in traditions and tastes revolving around tea. In case you haven’t read the first three stories, here they are: N°1, N°2 and N°3. Enjoy!

4th Cup

Let me take you to a faraway country. A country of jungles, monumental temples and crowded cities, of swaying, colourful silk, of spices, from curry to coumarin, of fields of rice and holy cows. You’ve guessed it, right? We’ve headed for India. But for our trip, it won’t need much more than a couple of minutes and just a few ingredients, as follows:

Warm up a cup of milk in a saucepan on the stove. Then add spices like cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and clove, let it be infused with black tea and sweeten with honey. And voilà: you’ve got a cup of Indian chai, “chai” simply meaning “tea”. Now close your eyes, take a sip of your chai and let your mind wander around, wander to places far-away…

This is how chai is originally prepared. Photo by Julie Johnson on Unsplash

Indian hospitality

It was an Indian friend who acquainted me with this tea. I was visiting her in her apartment in my hometown in Croatia. Though she’s a rather small woman, you couldn’t walk by her without noticing her in her traditional Indian silk garments. Each time, she wore them in different hues and ornaments, but they were always colourful and bright. As warm as were the spices of the chai, and as cheerful as were the colours of her clothes, so was her character… generously welcoming me to her Indian world in the middle of Europe!