Chai Facts and History
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Buddha’s Divine Creation...
Legend says that while in China, Gautama Buddha, who had vowed to meditate for nine years without rest, was preparing to meditate and dozed off. Sometime later he awoke frustrated with his failure to remain alert and tore his eyelids off. The eyelids took root and sprouted eye shaped leaves. This plant was said to be the first Camellia Sinensis tea plant. Buddha chewed a few of these leaves and immediately felt a feeling of well being and revitalization. He gathered these leaves and shared them with the Buddhist monks of Japan who processed the leaves and consumed this tea that would keep them alert while meditating.
Legend says that while in China, Gautama Buddha, who had vowed to meditate for nine years without rest, was preparing to meditate and dozed off. Sometime later he awoke frustrated with his failure to remain alert and tore his eyelids off. The eyelids took root and sprouted eye shaped leaves. This plant was said to be the first Camellia Sinensis tea plant. Buddha chewed a few of these leaves and immediately felt a feeling of well being and revitalization. He gathered these leaves and shared them with the Buddhist monks of Japan who processed the leaves and consumed this tea that would keep them alert while meditating.
The History of Chai
In North America the “chai” you are presented in your local tea shop took thousands of years of tea-volution to become the creamy spicy-sweet drink that most of us enjoy today.
The word chai is merely the generic word for “tea” in many European and Asian languages. Ancient masala chai, meaning spiced tea, originated in the ancient kingdoms of South East Asia.
In the early 1830s most of the tea still consumed in Great Britain was of Chinese origin. The British East India Company and British colonists noticed the existence of Assamese tea plants, which have grown wild in the Indian Assam region since before the middle ages. They began to cultivate tea plantations, resulting in the gradual increase of South Asians consumption of black tea.
In the early 20th century, the British owned Indian Tea Association also began a campaign to provide tea breaks for labour workers. The workers tea was mainly supplied buy local venders called “chai wallahs” who tended to serve it “British-style” with small amounts of milk, sugar and spices to help conserve tea usage. This form of tea helped to raise tea consumption and became the popular masala chai that is enjoyed to this day.
Sweet Chai
A sweet warm drink evokes a feeling of happiness and comfort. The use of sweetener enhances the flavor of the spices in masala chai and is much more appealing to the pallet than plain bitter tea. There are unlimited types of sweeteners available.
Sweetener is usually added to suit the drinker. Typically white or brown sugars are added. Depending on your preferences, you can also enhance your chai with honey, syrups, molasses, agave nectar, stevia and even coconut and condensed milks.
Traditionally, Indian jaggery is chosen for it’s nutritional integrity and rich molasses flavor. Jaggery is an unrefined cane sugar made from the sap of the date palm. The canes are heated into a syrupy mixture and dried into brown sugar crystals which retain their natural minerals and help to metabolize carbohydrates normally stored in the body from using refined white sugars.
"Masala" chai is traditionally made with a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and a wide variety of other warm spices prepared in many different ways. It can be served hot or cold, blended with milk, soy, cream and works as a remedy for many ailments.
Sweetener is usually added to suit the drinker. Typically white or brown sugars are added. Depending on your preferences, you can also enhance your chai with honey, syrups, molasses, agave nectar, stevia and even coconut and condensed milks.
Traditionally, Indian jaggery is chosen for it’s nutritional integrity and rich molasses flavor. Jaggery is an unrefined cane sugar made from the sap of the date palm. The canes are heated into a syrupy mixture and dried into brown sugar crystals which retain their natural minerals and help to metabolize carbohydrates normally stored in the body from using refined white sugars.
"Masala" chai is traditionally made with a mixture of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and a wide variety of other warm spices prepared in many different ways. It can be served hot or cold, blended with milk, soy, cream and works as a remedy for many ailments.