Art of Chai

Chai origins

Chai origins

Masala Chai, by definition, is a combination of spices and tea. The tea is usually CTC (crushed, teared, curled) black loose leaf tea. The spices can be anything ranging from cardamom to ginger and much more. At Chai Guys we like to define authentic Chai by the quality of the ingredients and how they are brewed.

Tea

Tea

+
Spices

Spices

+
Water

Water

+
Milk

Milk

Tea, spices, water and milk boil together for a sustained period of time. Brewing like this, in our eyes, is what defines proper Chai. It allows the flavours to infuse, the liquids to combine and for the beautiful aroma to waft around your kitchen. The process takes time, as good things often do, but it’s a process we love and find therapeutic. Welcome to The Art of Chai.

OUR INGREDIENTS

Currently, our Cardamom, Pepper and Cloves are organically farmed from single-origin estates. The farmers we pay get well above the average commodity price they’d get at auction. The spices are superior in terms of aroma and flavour but just as important the ethics in which we source and pay for them are solid.

Why our chai is different

Our Chai is probably the best you can buy. But why? You’ve probably come across different companies claiming to serve ‘good’ and authentic Chai. Most of them use instant powder mixes or mass produced syrups to create their product. Chai is either not a main focus or the tempting nature of using shortcuts is too much to resist. That equals a sub par product. For us, our absolute focus is on creating the best tasting Chai. This means going the extra mile to source the finest quality ingredients and brewing them on a high boil to extract all the natural flavours.

Our Spices

Our Spices

Commitment to Flavour

Commitment to Flavour

Tea to Spice Ratio

Tea to Spice Ratio

Another major element of creating a balanced and strong Chai is using a generous spices to tea ratio of 50/50. Spices are very expensive when you source the best and most other companies will serve you a weakly spiced Chai to save on costs.

At Chai Guys, we give you the optimal ratio because flavour is more important than our financial margin on each Chai sold. We believe you, our customer, will come back because we care immensely about flavour. We also freshly grind every spice right before it is either packaged or used at our locations to brew fresh Chai. We haven’t come across any other company that does the same.

Our unwavering commitment to creating authentic Chai and using the highest quality ingredients makes us stand out from the rest of the market. That’s why they say:

“it’s probably the best chai you can buy.”

OUR CHAI

We knew that while Chai Guys’ success lay upon creating the best Masala Chai you could buy, it was also our biggest challenge. Part of the beauty of Chai is that no two households will make it the same way. However, in the UK and the western world, Masala Chai is synonymous with the sugary and semi-tasteless Chai Latte. Not only did we want to redefine what Chai was associated with, we also wanted to win over those who made this drink the authentic way at home. After sourcing our signature blend of CTC black tea we spent eight months testing various iterations of Masala Chai. The end product is a soul warming brew with a beautiful balance of spices that has become our best seller.

MASALA CHAI

Our Kadak/Karak Chai came about through our travels to both India and the Middle East. When we visited India in 2018, we sought to create a twist on the standard recipe. It had to be indulgent and creamy, but more importantly, the strong flavours of tea and cardamom needed to balance perfectly. Our tea supplier suggested a stronger blend of BOP CTC black tea that would cut through the creaminess of the milk and sugar. Cinnamon is added to round off the flavours beautifully. After a series of extensive testing of the recipe, we mastered our very own and now renowned, Kadak Chai.

KADAK CHAI

During our first trip to India, we spent every evening staying up discussing what Chais we wanted to serve. We had heard a lot about Kashmiri and the unique differences it had to our other Chais, Masala and Kadak. Our tea supplier was able to source us a top quality green tea, perfect for Kashmiri Chai. We achieve a beautiful pink colour naturally when brewing this Chai and balance the salt with other spices to give you a truly unique offering as part of the Chai Guys menu.

KASHMIRI CHAI

How to Brew Masala Chai

How to Brew Kadak Chai