By Leigh O’Connor.
The word chai is like the word naan – in the Indian language, if you say chai tea or naan bread you are basically saying tea tea and bread bread!
While that is only one of the things we are ignorant about when discussing Indian fare, what exactly is chai and why has it become such an integral part of our drinking culture?
Chai is a way of life in India – everywhere you go from train stations to shops, everyone has a cup of this sweet, spicy and milky drink. Thanks to British colonisation, Indians began to adapt to the English way of drinking tea – black with milk and sugar.
It wasn’t long until they put their own spin on it with the addition of spices such as ginger, cinnamon and cloves. The base of chai is black tea – usually Assam which has a strong, full-bodied flavour – whole milk and spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, star anise and cloves.
Plain white sugar is usually the most common sweetener, while jaggery and unrefined cane sugar are also used – the basic process involves boiling water, tea, milk, sweetener and spices, then straining for a milky tea.
Chai also delivers health benefits to those who imbibe, such as:
•Chai is an anti-inflammatory and may help eliminate arthritis and other anti-inflammatory-causing diseases thanks to the inclusion of clove, ginger and cinnamon.
•This tea is a great choice if you are suffering from a nagging upset stomach or nausea – ginger can help reduce nausea, vomiting, motion sickness and chemotherapy-induced nausea.
•Chai contains a high antioxidant load – ask those in Japan or China, where heart disease is much lower than the Western World, what their favourite drink is.
•Black pepper is one of the spices that can aid digestion and you’ll find it in some chai mixes, helping the pancreas to speed up the time required to digest fats and protein.
•Cinnamon helps reduce blood pressure and to combat diabetes and cancer, along with reducing the risk of heart disease.
For a taste of the exotic, try this tea-rrific masala chai panna cotta recipe from Chef-hatted Sydney restaurant Urban Tadka for a not only healthy but seriously indulgent dessert!
