A hot cup of tea that will make tea lovers go to any extent

It is wintertime in the northern part of India and what better way to start a chilly morning than with a hot cup of tea. Being a blogger, I get my story ideas only when my taste and mind buds are refreshed with a hot cup of tea. Being a tea-lover, this would be my 4th or 5th  story on the subject of tea. But my obsession with tea will never get over. As a result,  every six months you may find a new story around tea – the favourite Indian beverage.

India is a country of tea lovers but every tea drinker prefers tea made in his style. Some like it with a heavy dose of milk while some prefer it strong. Then there are the ones who like a flavoured variety; an Elaichi or an Adrak tea. And in a world obsessed with “Go green” how can we leave the health-conscious ones behind who prefer green tea.

Being a Delhite since childhood my choice of tea is strongly influenced by the Delhi culture. I prefer a strong tea with a heavy dose of milk (cream in the western world). Tea is prepared in different styles and that is what my story is all about. However

A hot cup of Adrak flavoured tea: My mom’s favourite

Let me introduce my mom! She is a tea crazy person and prefers making  tea in her style. One day while having breakfast I asked her to pass me a spoon and she said that she can’t raise her hands. I checked if she was feeling ok. The reply surprised me. Her hands got tired as she grated Adrak (Ginger) in the morning for making her hot cup of tea. It was then I realised that tea-lovers will go to any extent to make their favourite hot cup of tea.

The tea maker at home who is not so popular

One of the reasons for my peaceful married life is that every morning I make a hot cup of tea both for my spouse as well as myself. My wife who prefers a strong tea doesn’t like the extra milk that I use but says that with time she has learned to compromise. Well! What a compromise?

In the morning while making tea I also check with my mom if she would like to have a hot cup of tea made by me. But when it comes to tea, mom doesn’t get carried away emotionally. She asks me not to worry and instead makes her tea separately. And as I step out of the kitchen with two cups of tea, I can hear mom grating ginger for the adrak flavoured tea. No doubt it proves that tea lovers are passionate about how their cup of tea is prepared.

Recently my mom who was facing some health issue got admitted to the hospital for a few days. As per the hospital policy, the patient was allowed to eat only hospital food. My mom didn’t complain much on the food part but the tea served by the hospital cafeteria was a total no-no. The next day my mom gave us instructions to get the entire tea-making paraphernalia from home. And here we were carrying a hot kettle, sugar-free sachets and readymade Wagh Bakri masala pre-mixed tea sachets to the hospital ward. Hospitality was at its peak in my mom’s ward. Any attendant who would visit mom in the room was offered a complimentary cup of tea with biscuits.

A hot cup of tea that can’t satiate my sister’s taste buds

My family has a strong pedigree of tea lovers and one person who holds the title of the craziest tea-lover is my elder sister. She carries her tea leaves whenever she visits us. I always tell her if she can let me know the brand she prefers I can stock it at home. But tea lovers don’t trust people so easily when it comes to making the perfect cup of tea.

Keeping the family tradition alive is my daughter who somehow has been successful in cracking the magic mix that creates a perfectly hot cup of tea. So, whenever she volunteers to make tea for everyone nobody objects, and the motion is passed unanimously. A rare occasion for the Srivastava family where mom, sister, spouse, and myself are on the same frequency.

A hot cup of tea made by the roadside Dhaba-wala.

One community that has perfected the art of making tea is the Dhaba community. You walk into any Dhaba and there will be at least 4-6 people standing around the tea-stall waiting for a perfect cup of hot tea. The Dhaba owner is not concerned about the quantity of tea he is supposed to make. To start with he may have an order of 4-5 cups but as tea lovers keep walking in he keeps adding more water and milk along with the tea leaves and dollops of sugar. Despite supplementing the saucer pan with extra additions of milk and tea leaves he always finds the perfect mix.

You can visit the Dhaba anytime and the tea will taste the same. It is surprising how he manages the consistency in taste but surely the tea at his place is always awesome.

Tea making is an art

The purists still love making tea the old-fashioned way. The tea leaves are boiled in water in a saucepan and poured into a tea kettle. Milk is warmed in a separate pot and added to the cup and tea is poured from the kettle. Sugar is as per the tea-lovers taste. However, as life progressed the art of tea-making changed, and now tea leaves and milk are boiled together with water to fasten the process.

The machine and the sachet that attacked the soul of tea-making

And then the world of tea making was attacked by machines. The tea-making machines not only fastened the process of tea making but also standardized it. However, in the entire process, the one thing that got sacrificed was the taste. Today the tea-making machines in offices do offer a break from the monotonous job but drinking the machine-dispensed tea is a compromise.

Another invention in the tea-making world that made the process of tea-making much convenient was the tea-sachet. You just needed to dip a sachet in a hot cup of water, add milk as per your taste, and voila the tea was ready. But this process destroyed the beautiful culture of drinking tea from kulhad (earthen pots) especially during a train journey. The kulhad got replaced by a plastic disposable cup with a tea sachet. The chaiwallah just needed to pour a mix of water and milk from his serving kettle and tea was ready to be served. But what was missing was the aroma of tea and the smell of an earthen kulhad.

The moral of the story is that to make a perfect cup of hot tea you need to be patient and go through the entire rigmarole to arrive at that perfect result.

You can enjoy reading more such stories on my blog. Click on the following link:

The Art of Making Tea: My cup of tea is different from yours

The Indian Tea: A beverage popular with all ages