Tea, Chai, Chaha, Chaya, Çay...

We have a tussle at home..my sister and I, who can sleep five minutes longer than the other so that whoever wakes up first makes chai...Now at home, we pampered brats don't mind the time we have to wake up...Amma's hot piping cup of tea appears five minutes after we deign to leave the bedroom to register our attendance at the breakfast table.

For years, I was a coffee snob. I thought tea too plebian and never allowed to let Amma tease my palate with her strongly brewed chaya with milk ( we Malayalis don't understand chai :). So there, in a household of mom, me, sis and the grandparents ( and occasionally Dad in the growing years, when he was home on leave) I was the coffee-brat. A jar of instant coffee was always in the cupboard and hot piping milk kept ready for me to spoon in coffee and gulp it down before leaving for school or college. However, Amma, in no mood to take my separate nonsense started coaxing me to try chai when guests would visit and she'd slip in an extra cup...Now when a young adult is served tea in the guest-cups (which are the pretty ones and rarely taken out normally for the family), you gulp it down, even if it is an Ayurvedic potion. A couple of similar gulps down the line and a heady dose of laziness (who wants to make the effort of brewing their own cup of morning coffee when tea is served to you), I was a convert...a devout chaya- guzzler from a hesitant gulper...

And now over, the period of my sojourn abroad and across India, I have realised Tea by any other name is just as much fun...All I don't agree with the Indians on, is the heaps of sugar used in every round of tea served. If I could regulate that in mine, I am a happy soul and can take down umpteen numbers of the above mentioned through the day. Here again, Amma drinks tea at most once a day, in the evening after her afternoon nap. I can drink it whenever I am served it while Dad thrives on a steady supply of tannin through his numerous cups to keep him buzzing like an Energiser bunny through the day.

Each place has its own unique brew. In Mumbai, it is sacrilege not to try the cutting chai. So yes, it might be a bit difficult for non-street food lovers to have a go at the hastily washed cutting glasses and see the brown liquid carelessly splashed into the containers..but once you have the first sip of the masala infused cutting, you'd realise nothing else matters...

The Kerala chayakada (tea shop) (which the joke runs that you find even on the Moon) serves you a variety that is different...much much different from the home brew...more milkier, less brown ( the economy of tea making does not really allow for brown brown tea that takes up quite some amount of tea leaves)But see the process of how it is made and you cannot resist having a go...(that reminds me, tea seems to be a favourite topic with me..I have blogged about it earlier too, while living in England and missing the glorious chai/chaya of India ( just click on chai/chaya, in case you are a tea maniac like me too who loves to read an ode to it)

Chai made at home, hmmm..no one beats Amma, my sister comes close ( or that's what I say so that it is an added incentive for her to brew it at home most of the time, some flattery goes a long way, you see!)

And now for the firangi tastes...I love the subtle Chinese teas.. the anti-weight gain green tea is definitely an acquired taste, but tea served with most Chinese meals is a lovely palate cleanser.

I resisted the English tea for months, till I succumbed to the lures of a well-brewed Earl Grey. And that's about all I like despite elaborate tea services in tea rooms across England. You cannot mask a weak tea that is then murdered with a blob of milk or cream with an elaborate tea service in delicate china can you? But the scones, clotted cream and jam served with tea, does make up for the awful apology of what is called fine English tea.

And then I land in Turkey, where tea is called  Çay and pronounced like our desi chai..(any wonder how the Persian influence runs through cultures). Now tea-drinking is the national passion of the Turkish. For those, not really thrilled about the tannin-tasting black tea going down your throat, there is always the pleasant apple tea ( usually sugared, served in typical Turkish tea tumblers) or fruit teas to make you believe you are a tea drinker. But if you are a tea addict, then you must try this..this is the way they serve tea. The metal teapot on the top contains a really strong tea brew and the larger teapot below has hot piping water. You pour in your combination into the tea tumbler, sit by the Bosphorus and talk life, love and philosophy...And think to yourself...this is what life is truly about...