Chai and its Culture in India

India competes with China for the designation of world’s largest producer of tea. More than 1,00,000 landholders of tea employs nearly millions of tea workers from the geographically and ethnically rich subcontinent of India. Tea is so rooted in the framework of India’s culture that 70 percent of the millions of the tea wholly produced are consumed solely by the Indians themselves.

There are three main Indian tea regions which includes Assam ,Darjeeling as well as Nilgiri . North East, the abode to the Assam region is located in the rich, thick jungles at the foot of the Eastern Himalayas and the Darjeeling regions which bangs up against Tibetan Himalaya and stretches between high mountain ridges and low mountain valleys.

The tea grown and produced in India changes significantly along with the geographical population. India has that appropriate climate to grow teas, leaving us so many different ways to explore the subcontinent through its culture of tea.

Chai is deeply rooted in the Indian culture, it’s an inheritance from the British. I asked myself why Indians drink chai, not only why it’s a part of the culture, but why sip a hot drink in such sweltering heat? Even once the British left India, the culture of drinking tea did not. Tea is the most widely accepted drink across the subcontinent, not only because of the flavour, but also because its cheap and affordable to the poorest.

Tea is grown in India , major exports are done from Darjeeling. Many generations have only tea business and they run it successfully. Though there are many recipes of chai and it varies from region to region, some chai wallahs make tea with the perfect mix of sugar and spices. And what’s more, Indians drink chai because of the heat.

Drinking hot chai triggers an energising effect inside the body. Receptors in the mouth signal that you’re hot and your body responds by upping the number of cool mechanisms — sweat among them — and it exceeds the effect of adding a hot liquid into your system. And so, drinking chai is a part of the Indian culture.

It is hard to deny that Chai has a consistent presence in our lives. Chai can be drank by all classes of people starting from young to old. It has also been an all time favourite for the travellers because it refreshes, provides energy after consumption and also “Chai” can be traced in every corners of India.