India- Chai Spices

The origin of tea lies in China. In the northern dialects it is called chà, while in the south, the character for tea is pronounced té and in Cantonese, its name is chàh.

Since the trade routes of the Dutch sailors lead to the southern provinces of China, it is the pronunciation used in these provinces that was first introduced in Europe.

The northern pronunciation on the other hand found its way to India, Persia, Arabia, the Ottoman empire and Russia over the Silk road; also, it was on this route that tea came into touch with other customs and ingredients such as sugar and spices.

In India the Hindi word for tea is Chai or MasalaChai, Masala meaning blend, often referring to a blend of spices, that is first boiled in water and to which a strong black tea, milk and/or sugar are added and which is then boiled again. There is no set recipe for Chai and every family and street vendor, from Kolkata to Mumbai, from Delhi to Tamil Nadu, has his or her own recipe and way of preparing tea.

Do try the blend of spices from Länggass-Tee by following the included instructions.