For the Hebrew word and Jewish symbol, see Chai (symbol)

A cup of masala chai.

Chai (Arabic: شَاي, Hindi: चाय, Urdu/Persian: چاى, Russian: чай, Turkish: çay ^[1], ultimately from the Chinese word chá (茶) ^[2]) is the word for tea generally in Asia, North and East Africa and Eastern Europe. Cognates in other languages include the Bengali chā, the Marathi chahā and the Tamil thaeneer. Chai or CHAI may refer to: Chai, the word for tea in South Asia and the Middle East, used in English to refer specifically to spiced tea (called masala chai in India). ... The word Hebrew most likely means to cross over, referring to the Semitic people crossing over the Euphrates River. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... The Hebrew Chai symbol of Judaism. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x960, 119 KB) Summary photographed by self Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x960, 119 KB) Summary photographed by self Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Arabic redirects here. ... Hindi ( , Devanagari: or , IAST: , IPA: ), an Indo-European language spoken all over India in varying degrees and extensively in northern and central India, is one of the two central official languages of India, the other being English. ... Urdu ( , , trans. ... “Farsi” redirects here. ... For other uses, see Tea (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ...  Northern Africa (UN subregion)  geographic, including above North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  geographic, including above East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ... Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange),members of the Warsaw pact (light orange), and other former Communist regimes not aligned with Moscow (lightest orange). ...

In a typical South Asian household, chai is prepared by boiling loose leaf tea in a pot with milk and water. Depending on personal preference, various spices and/or sweetener may also be added at this stage. What many English speakers tend to think of as chai is, therefore, more strictly known as masala chai, (Hindi (मसाला चाय [masālā chāy], "spiced tea"). Indian markets all over the world sell various brands of "chai masala," (Hindi चाय मसाला [masālā chāy], "tea spice" ), though many households blend their own. Massala redirects here. ...

In India, chai is more popular than coffee, and "chai wallahs," (or chaiwala) or street vendors, are a common sight in many Indian neighborhoods. For the several U.S. counties named Coffee, see Coffee County. ... Chaiwala is a hindi word for tea shop owner or seller of tea. ...

Preparation

A boy in India preparing masala chai

There is no fixed recipe or preparation method for masala chai and many families have their own special versions of the tea. The key to making good tea is to leave the tea leaves (or tea dust) in the hot/boiling water long enough to get the flavor of the tea but not too long. Excessive exposure of tea to heat will release the bitter tannins in the tea leaves. Because of the huge range of possible variations, masala chai can be considered a class of tea rather than a specific kind. But all masala chai has the following four basic components: Image File history File links Teamaking. ... Image File history File links Teamaking. ... This article is about culinary recipes. ...

• Tea: The base tea is usually a strong black tea, such as Assam, so that the various spices and sweeteners do not overpower it. CTC-grade teas are often used, as they infuse quickly and strongly. However, a wide variety of teas can be and are used to make chai. Most chai in India proper is brewed with strong black tea, but Kashmiri chai is brewed with gunpowder tea. Sometimes the drink is prepared with tisanes such as rooibos, and even with the South American beverage yerba mate, though these innovations are entirely Western.
• Sweetener: Plain white sugar is sufficient, though unprocessed sugar, molasses, honey, and other sweeteners can be used for various flavors. A surprisingly large quantity of sugar is required to bring out the flavor of the spices; one recipe uses three tablespoons of sugar in 3.5 cups of chai.
• Milk: or other such creamers. Usually, whole milk is used for its richness, but any milkfat concentration will do. Generally, masala chai usually is made by having 1/4 to 1/2 parts milk mixed with water and then heated close to or to boiling temperature. Using soy milk may affect its taste and is not recommended. Rice milk may be preferred (for taste) to soy milk when preparing chai for vegans or lactose intolerant people.

Spices and cut tea leaves

• Spices: Traditionally, Masala Chai is a bracing, strongly spiced beverage brewed with so-called "warm" spices. Most masala chai incorporates one or more of the following: cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, star anise, peppercorn, and cloves. Other possible ingredients include nutmeg, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla , licorice or saffron. Chai tea almost always has cardamom in it as it would be hard to classify a tea as being chai without it. For example, cinnamon (ex. cinnamon/apple tea), vanilla (ex. tea with vanilla extract or flavor), or star anise (ex. thai tea alone) would not make the tea a "chai tea" as a there has to make something specific to make a tea qualify as chai. If the tea doesn't have cardamom in it, then it would have to use common Indian spices for it to be classified as chai. For instance, ginger, black pepper, and especially cloves are used in Indian masala mixtures and cuisine. Having ginger or black pepper is considered important as it gives chai that slightly hot flavor. In India, for example, fresh ginger is usually used Chai recipe.

Chai can be prepared in many ways. The most common way is to boil water with the sugar and spices, add tea and milk/creamer and then proceed to simmer it for a few minutes. It is then strained and served. For other uses, see Tea (disambiguation). ... Black tea Black tea is more oxidized than the green, oolong and white varieties; all four varieties are made from leaves of Camellia sinensis. ... Assam is a black tea named after the region of its production: (Assam, India). ... Gunpowder tea (珠茶; pinyin: zhū chá) is a form of green Chinese tea produced in Zhejiang Province of China in which each leaf has been rolled into a small round pellet. ... Herbal tea A tisane, ptisan or herbal tea is any herbal infusion other than from the leaves of the tea bush (Camellia sinensis). ... Binomial name (N.L.Burm. ... Binomial name Ilex paraguariensis A. St. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sugar substitute. ... Sucrose (common name: table sugar, also called saccharose) is a disaccharide (glucose + fructose) with the molecular formula C12H22O11. ... Molasses or treacle is a thick syrup by-product from the processing of the sugarcane or sugar beet into sugar. ... For other uses, see Honey (disambiguation). ... A glass of cows milk. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 547 pixelsFull resolution (3288 × 2248 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 547 pixelsFull resolution (3288 × 2248 pixel, file size: 1. ... External links Wikibooks Cookbook has more about this subject: Spice Food Bacteria-Spice Survey Shows Why Some Cultures Like It Hot Citat: ...Garlic, onion, allspice and oregano, for example, were found to be the best all-around bacteria killers (they kill everything). ... This article is about the herbs. ... Binomial name J.Presl Cassia (Chinese cinnamon) is also commonly called (and sometimes sold as) cinnamon. ... For other uses, see Ginger (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Illicium verum Hook. ... Binomial name L. Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. ... This article is about spices, the word clove is also used to describe a segment of a head of garlic and a clove hitch is a useful kind of knot. ... It has been suggested that Legal drugs#Nutmeg be merged into this article or section. ... For other uses, see Chocolate (disambiguation). ... Cocoa beans in a cacao pod Cocoa is the dried and partially fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made. ... Vanilla pods Vanilla is a flavouring derived from orchids in the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. ... Species Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa Glycyrrhiza aspera Glycyrrhiza astragalina Glycyrrhiza bucharica Glycyrrhiza echinata Glycyrrhiza eurycarpa Glycyrrhiza foetida Glycyrrhiza glabra Glycyrrhiza iconica Glycyrrhiza korshinskyi Glycyrrhiza lepidota Glycyrrhiza pallidiflora Glycyrrhiza triphylla Glycyrrhiza uralensis Glycyrrhiza yunnanensis Ref: ILDIS Version 6. ... Binomial name Crocus sativus L. Saffron (IPA: ) is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus), a species of crocus in the family Iridaceae. ...

The green tea-based Kashmiri version of chai is brewed with almonds, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, and sometimes saffron. Many Western commercial preparations such as Oregon Chai are strongly flavored with vanilla and honey, with other flavors far less dominant. This results in a far mellower, "cozier" beverage than most Indian masala chais, with a markedly different flavor. As vanilla/chocolate is generally not used in authentic chai, some brands such as tazo mix vanilla and anise for example with classic Indian spices to make chai Starbucks Chai. Oregon Chai is a hot, tea-based beverage prepared with steamed milk, vanilla, a sweetener (usually sugar, or honey), and other spices. ...

Etymology

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A common misconception is that the word "chai" shares a root with the word "China", as well as the Chinese word for tea, "cha". However, this is a mistake. The Chinese word for China is transliterated as "jonghua" (meaning "middle kingdom"). "Jonghua" does not share any roots with "cha". Accordingly, although there is a marked correlation between the words "cha" and "china", there is no relation between the two. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ...

The original pronunciation "cha" in the Cantonese and Mandarin languages has no [j] ending. Therefore it is merely an adaptation of the Mandarin and Cantonese word "cha" in mainly Eurasian languages that do not usually tolerate a syllable that openly ends in "[a]". The different articulations of the word for tea into the two main groups: "teh-derived" (Min Chinese dialects) and "cha-derived" (Mandarin, Cantonese and other non-Min Chinese dialects) is an interesting one, as it reveals the particular Chinese local cultures where non-Chinese nations acquired their tea and "tea cultures". Not surprisingly, India and the Arab world most likely got their tea cultures from the Cantonese or the Southwestern Mandarin speakers, whereas the Russians got theirs from the northern Mandarin speakers. On the contrary, the Western Europeans who copied the Min articulation "teh" probably traded with the Hokkienese while in Southeast Asia. Quite recently, no more than 20 years ago, "chai" entered North American English with a particular meaning: Indian massala black tea. Of course this is not the case in other languages, where "chai" usually just means black tea. English is thus one of the few languages that allow for the dual articulations of "tea" into a "teh-derived" word and a "cha-derived" one, such as Moroccan colloquial Arabic: in the case of Moroccan Arabic, "ash-shay" means "generic, or black Middle Eastern tea" whereas "at-tay" means a specialty tea: Zhejiang or Fujian green tea with fresh mint leaves. The Moroccans are said to have acquired a unique penchant in the Arab world for East Chinese green tea after the ruler Mulay Hassan exchanged some European hostages captured by the Barbary Pirates for a whole ship of Chinese tea. They have thus acquired a word for this special tea different from the generic "ash-shay".^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

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Wikibooks' Cookbook has more about this subject:

Masala Chai

• What is chai? — a brief introduction to chai on Chai! The Enthusiast's Online Chai Resource.

• How to Make Chai Tea - a recipe from WikiHow
• Health Benefits of Chai — The ingredients of chai and their claimed health benefits, Chai.com
• A timeline of Tea drinking in China and Japan
• Article about the increasing use of Chai in U.S. coffee houses etc.