My mom claims that my first word was cha, which means chai or tea. And I do believe her because I can drink chai any time of the day or night. I drink tea twice a day – one cup before work and one cup after work. When I say make tea, I don’t mean boil water and add a tea bag. Making chai is a form of art that involves the right combination of sugar, spices, loose leaf English breakfast tea, and milk. My favorite spices to add are cardamom, cloves, and ginger. There’s nothing like a hot, steaming cup of chai. I love chai so much that I savor every sip, which means reheating the cup of chai in the microwave 3-4 times. Some people find this gross, but there’s nothing worse than lukewarm tea. This pretty much goes for every hot beverage I drink.
In most cultures, food is the way into someone’s heart. For me its chai. Give me a freshly and perfectly brewed cup and you have me on your side. In my family my dad makes the best tea. And he’s consistent. The rest of us…not so much. If anyone brews a cup of chai that doesn’t sit well with me, you’ll definitely hear about it.
Not only do I need to drink chai everyday, the really value add is dipping cream filled cookies in my tea. Like dunking Oreos in milk. Not just any cookies, but Fab cookies. Yummy! Lately, I’ve become obsessed with the Indian version of Oreo cookies by Bourbon. I’ve tried to go cold turkey before to cut down on sugar, but not dunking cookies in chai just takes away from the true enjoyment of the beverage.
This poster perfectly captures my views on chai. Brew yourself a hot cup 🙂