Tea or Chaya

Tea  or Chaya

By

P.R.Ramachander

 I started  drinking  tea in my native Kerala  village

1,Our homes  in kerala

Making tea is very simple there.Take tea dust( leaf was not available) , Take sufficient , water  and milk.Boil them together  .Sieve the tea through chaya filter.Add  sugar  .Tea would be very thick and slightly bitter

When we  used to go out of our homes, if orthodox uncles are  not accompanying us , we would take 

 2.Tea in  Chaya kada.

  For some peculiar  reason they use  boiler for that.One long cloth filter tied to a ring   would be kept on the side of the boiler   which will always  have  boiling water .When we  ask for tea, the filter  would be taken out, some tea dust would be put and some very hot water poured through it. To this they will add  oiling milk.They normally add lot of sugar.The decotrion would be thin  and the tea  would not be bitter.

3.Irani tea  from Irani tea shops  - I drank it first  in Secunderabad  and liked it

To prepare Irani Chai Recipe, in a Saucepan, add water, and all the spices (star anise, cardamoms, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper). .Add milk and cream and simmer for another 5 minutes. .. Then add in your tea leaves and keep it in the simmer for another 3 minutes.

4, Tea in way side   shops in Calcutta

       Here   tea was prepared  using tea leves. Before making decoction, the cups   would be washed  in boiling water, The  water , milk , cardamom  and tea leaves  would be boiled and strained  by using a strainer.Some how tea was watery  , light  and sweet.

5.Tea  in delhi

    When we  moved to hostel in Delhi, we were shocked to see that a cup, milk pot , sugar pot , tea leaves  and a strainer  was kept on the table. We were supposed to put tea leaves on strain er  and pour hot water.A very light  decoction   would come .To it we used to add milk and sugar .The tea  was very tastey

6.Gujarathi tea 

   The method of preparation was  more like  our homes  in Kerala but  leaves were  used  instead of dust and spices like Thulasi, cardamom, ginger  etc were  added to the tea leaves before making decoction.

7.Dip tea

   Easiest  method. Boil water .Dip the  tea bags .Light decoction would come..Add milk and sugar  if needed

Many , many more  types of Chaya  may be there ,But  I do not like  Kattan Chaya(Tea decoction only)