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EveryCow

Milk drinks

Masala chai

Black tea boiled with milk, sugar and spices, poured from a pan into small glasses or clay cups at every street corner.

Masala chai is strong black tea boiled together with milk, sugar and spices such as cardamom, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Unlike tea brewed in a pot, it is cooked in a pan and boiled up several times before it is strained. It is the daily drink of India, sold by chaiwalas from roadside stalls and railway platforms in small glasses or kulhads.

What goes in

Milk: 40%40%Water: 27%27%Black tea: 13%13%Sugar: 13%13%Ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon: 7%5parts
  • Milk640%, Often half the pan or more.
  • Water427%, Boiled with the tea.
  • Black tea213%, Strong Assam granules.
  • Sugar213%, Usually plenty.
  • Ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon17%, The masala.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Boil Boil water with crushed ginger and spices.
  2. Step 2: Boil Add the tea leaves and boil a minute until dark.
  3. Step 3: Cook Pour in the milk and sugar and bring it up to the boil two or three times.
  4. Step 4: Strain Strain into glasses or clay cups and serve hot.
  5. Milk: 40%40%Water: 27%27%Black tea: 13%13%Sugar: 13%13%Ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon: 7%
    Finished Masala chai, by share.

From plantation to street

Tea grew in Assam long before the British planted it commercially in the nineteenth century, but drinking it widely in India came later. Campaigns in the early twentieth century promoted tea at home, and street sellers made it their own by boiling it with plenty of milk, sugar and spices. By the middle of the century chai had become a national habit.

How it is made

Every household has its own masala. Ginger is the most common addition, and cardamom is the classic in the north. Milk is often half or more of the pan. The tea is brought to the boil, lowered and boiled up again, which thickens it. Chai is offered to every guest and drunk at breaks through the working day.

Where it is used

Morning and afternoon teaFor every guestRailway platforms

The breeds behind it

Holstein FriesianFriesian crosses give much of India's dairy milk.JerseyJersey crosses are common in Indian dairies.SahiwalLeading native dairy breed.GirNative dairy breed of Gujarat.

More on EveryCow

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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