MADRAS FUSION CHAI

Have you ever visited a Hindu Mandir, (Temple)? If not, you should. For non-Hindus the experience is a fascinating one filled with warm greetings, peace and quiet and the inevitable invitation to share a meal and cup of spicy warm chai afterward. It was after such a visit to a temple in Chennai, (Chennai is the modern name for the city of Madras) that our Master Taster learned the formula for this wonderful green tea-based chai.

While our Master Taster has had Chai everywhere from Assam to Goa, what stood out about the cup on this particular occasion was that it was based on a green tea - traditionally, Indian chai uses black tea as its base. Not wanting to be rude and knowing how tightly guarded many tea-secrets are, he summoned both his courage and artful diplomacy to ask the temple cook how he had made the intoxicating blend. The cook was hesitant. To see if our Master Taster was worthy of receiving such a recipe, the cook asked him a series of questions about Indian tea. Thankfully, he passed the test and the recipe was written out for him to take home.

The tea you hold now is the result of this fateful temple visit. The blend is identical to the original in every way save for the base tea. While the original used an Indian green tea, ours is based on a premium Japanese Sencha grade tea, selected for its light flavor and ability to blend seamlessly with a multitude of spice. (As a side note, the idea for the name Fusion stems from our blending of Indian and Japanese tea traditions.) The cup is rich and warm, rolling over the taste buds with soothing notes of peppery spice. Perhaps on a future visit to Chennai, we'll bring a bag of this tea as an offering to the temple that inspired it. Namaste!

Important: Turn your bag of Chai upside down a few times. The powdered spices can settle at the bottom of the bag during transit.