Life’n'Such - To Good friends, good food and a good life!

Got Chai?

Picture 1: Shown above are Turkish Tea leaves, my favorite tea. Isnt it evident?

Did you hear the news? Chai is the new Coffee!

And the good news is, its way better than Coffee. Ask me how? Hmm, first off, lesser caffeine, and heres the good part; anti-oxidants! Yippee! Isnt this a cause for a tea-break?

I used to ask everyone whats the big deal, how does one get addicted to Tea or even Coffee? Why can’t my Mom not get on with her day, without a cup of her morning chai?

Now I know why. The answer is a good cup of tea or coffee will just wake you up, and get you going. Sorry this explanation isn’t a scientific enough.

In the past few years, I have had teas made by many relatives and friends (some from different countries). My favorite kind of tea is Turkish tea, its a black tea. It has a very cute double boiler kind of tea pot. Usually made of steel or aluminum. Look at the Picture 1.

I am from India, where tea is called chai. Its black tea. Darjeeling (a little city in North India) is supposed to be world famous for its tea. And also very expensive. In India, tea is usually had with milk and sugar. Sometimes, some spices are also added; sometimes cardomom (elaichi), or sometimes ginger, or a special kind of blend of spices, called Masala chai.

Picture 2: Indian tea leaves.

Being married to a Kashmiri husband, I have developed liking for their 2 types of Kashmiri teas, only grown and made in Kashmir, and in Pakistan. One is Kehva or Kahva (green tea made with spices), and the other is Noon chai (Pink or Salty tea).

Picture 3: Green Tea leaves

Picture 4: Noon Chai leaves

And the regular tea commonly had in US, is Lipton Tea, again a black tea. Indian chai, Turkish chai, and even Mint chai (made by my middle eastern friends) could be made with Lipton, just the cooking styles and teapots would vary. Same tea, different taste.

Picture 5: Lipton Tea

Whats the point, of this blog post? Well, I just wanted to show off my knowledge of these 5 different types of teas, which are a part of my kitchen.

April 16th, 2007