Bitter, sweet, and ginger-cardamom-kissed: Cutting chai, the brew that fuels Mumbai

I was introduced to cutting chai erstwhile I moved to then-Bombay for college. Sophia College, perched betwixt Warden Road and Breach Candy, was a locomotion halfway up the lane connecting the 2 main streets. But if you walked down towards Warden Road, you’d find a tiny beverage stall—a favourite haunt for students. It was the lone nutrient store successful the lane, and fixed our choky budgets, it became a earthy gathering spot. That small stall offered a smattering of uniquely ‘Mumbaiya’ snacks—bun maska, keema pao (on a bully day), and astir importantly, cutting chai.

Served successful a tiny glass, cutting chai is fundamentally a half-cup of strong beverage tea—almost kadak chai arsenic we telephone it — flavoured with ginger and elaichi (cardamom). You usually get 2 to 3 ample gulps per serving, which, erstwhile you deliberation astir it, is conscionable capable to get you going for the day. In a metropolis wherever everything moves accelerated and everyone is connected the run—especially those commuting implicit 2 hours each mode to work—cutting chai makes cleanable sense. Of course, astir of america ne'er halt astatine conscionable 1 cup; aggregate rounds are the norm.

I retrieve trudging down to that stall, sometimes with our journalism professors — the legendary P Sainath and Jerry Pinto. Most of america were from extracurricular Bombay, and we would beryllium extracurricular the small shop, nether a tree, sipping beardown beverage portion waxing eloquent astir the ills of commercialized Hindi cinema and the diminution of existent journalism.

Served successful a tiny glass, cutting chai is fundamentally a half-cup of beardown beverage tea. (Photo: Canva)

Cutting chai is ne'er served successful porcelain cups oregon kulhads. It ever comes successful tiny glasses, communal to beverage stalls. These glasses are often scratched and cloudy from years of use, but a solid it indispensable be. This is not a refined, delicately brewed tea. Made with powdered achromatic tea, adjacent parts beverage liquor and milk, and boiled agelong capable to extract the flavours of ginger and cardamom, it’s rather virtually a sip of heaven. Or three.

Other cities and states person their ain versions of cutting chai. In Bengal, you get “Lebu Cha“—a powerfully brewed beverage liquor with a compression of lime, served without milk, commonly recovered successful dhabas and assemblage canteens. Then there’s Irani Chai, recovered successful Mumbai’s Irani cafes, often flavoured with khoya oregon adjacent beverage pulverization alternatively of regular milk. The communal denominator successful each these chais? Strength. These teas aren’t astir the delicate nuances of beverage leaves; they’re astir providing warmth, comfort, and a infinitesimal of indulgence—whether speedy oregon leisurely.

Sure, you tin bargain cutting chai for Rs 150 connected a nutrient transportation app oregon astatine a chic restaurant. But I would ever urge stopping by an Irani café oregon immoderate roadside chai stall erstwhile you’re successful Bombay. Take 5 minutes, beryllium down, and relish a solid of “cutting”. It’s strong, sometimes a small bitter, somewhat sweet, with abrupt bursts of cardamom, served successful a less-than-pristine solid that mightiness beryllium half-full oregon half-empty—depending connected your perspective. It’s a existent sensation of Bombay.

Next week, I’ll beryllium penning astir immoderate unsocial biryanis. Stay tuned.