It’s peak monsoon. Imagine sitting on your balcony, newspaper in hand, watching the rain come pouring down. Now imagine adding a piping hot cup of steamy Masala chai to this already dreamy scenario! Makes you crave that hot cup of chai right now, doesn’t it?
Enter Masala Tea. The sweet and spiced-up concoction is made from a mixture of ingredients like ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. And there are as many versions as there are spices! Based on their preferences people add or omit ingredients from it, to get the spicy, strong, malty flavour.
The most trusted and best tea company in India, Wagh Bakri has its own version! And all you have to do to try this lovely aromatic concoction loved by the whole country is search for Wagh Bakri + Buy Masala Tea Online in India to visit buytea.com
But who came up with this idea of adding masala or spice to chai?
For this, let’s take you back in time!
It may be surprising but masala chai is believed to have originated in the royal courts of India. Though there are several versions to the story of how the first cup of masala chai came into existence, according to lore, approximately 5,000 years ago Indian emperors used to enjoy a brewed drink of spices to stay alert in long courtly meetings. This herbal drink was also an Ayurvedic medicine known as ‘Karha’ and was also considered a precautionary measure against various ailments of the body.
In 1800, Britishers introduced black tea leaves to India. They were hooked to the taste of Chinese tea and by the 1830s, they were consuming a stunning 40 million pounds per year. When the demand for tea exceeded, the Chinese raised their prices, so the Britishers started looking for alternative sources. Until 1870, more than 90% of England’s tea consumption was supported by China’s monopoly. But that dropped to 10% by 1900 as the Britishers noticed that tea was growing wild in Assam, India. So they formalised tea growing in India. And over the years, 90% of the British tea-drinking demand was met by tea grown in British India and British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). But don’t worry, India’s most trusted tea brand and the best tea company in India is 100% desi. And if that doesn’t make you want to buy masala chai online in India..read on.
Though the tea exports went high, consumption in India was still low. So with an increase in the production and supply of tea in the early 20th century, the British-owned India Tea Association decided to encourage the nation to drink this caffeinated beverage. They started by giving tea to workers in factories, mines, and textile mills during their break. This campaign worked! And tea slowly trickled into every nook and corner of India. That it would meet the original Ayurvedic spiced drink called karha was inevitable!
Early advertisements showed how to prepare tea with the right brew and so on. But Indians developed their own techniques. As tea leaves were still expensive for the common man, people started adding spices like fresh ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and bay leaves, to enhance the flavours of this brew. They also increased the quantity of milk and sugar. This helped create an aromatic and tasty drink at a low cost. The same drink that we today buy and brew as masala chai in India or masala tea in India. The Britishers didn’t like masala chai or masala tea as adding spices meant using less tea per serving and eventually lower profits. Hence, they shut down all such tea stalls. But that didn’t stop Indians from loving masala chai.
Even after the Independence, there was no looking back! Since then, masala chai has gained successful global recognition with its foreign relative, chai tea latte hitting the right spots for people around the globe.
