Would you like some tea with your sugar?

I've heard many people say that one of the main reasons they don’t drink chai is b’coz it is way too sweet. This is true if the only chai you’ve had is at cafes. 

Most cafes use a chai concentrate as a base to make their chai or chai latte - which is always loaded with sugar. I looked for unsweetened chai mixes but didn’t come across any. I started to wonder why that was the case. 

 There could be several reasons; here are the most likely ones: 

1. Adding sugar was a way to make this traditional Indian drink palatable to the Americans. After all, the Big Food Industry uses sugar (and consequently America’s addiction to sugar) to make huge profits. 

2. The Americans who created the recipes based it on their experience in India – where they were treated to really sweet chai. Indians love sugar too and one way to show hospitality is to generously use sugar. 

3. All chai concentrates have citric acid – it’s a “natural” preservative that helps extend the shelf life to 11 months or more. Sugar helps in masking the sour taste of the citric acid. 

 When I started The Chai Cart, my mission was to provide “wholesome goodness of chai“– like the kind I made at home. To be true to this mission I made a deliberate decision to NOT add any preservative (even if it meant limiting shelf life to 3 months and restricting distribution within the Bay Area) or sugar. I wanted customers to have the choice – of how much sugar to add and even the type of sweetener (honey, stevia, splenda, etc).

 Every morning I make a 12 oz cup of chai with 1 tsp of sugar and 4oz of 2% milk. This cup of chai has 70 calories and 8 grams of sugar. A non-fat chai latte at Starbucks has approximately 170 calories and 34 grams of sugar. 

If you start your day with a cup of chai, make sure it’s the right start.

CHAI AND CHAI LATTE

I always raise one eyebrow when I hear or see the words “Chai Latte”. As I described in my previous post, “chai” is hard-wired in my brain to mean a certain drink – strong hot black tea with milk (spices are optional). So what is this “Chai Latte” stuff anyway – it combines two words from two different languages and cultures. The resulting drink doesn’t even taste like real chai. 

 In my quest to check out the competition, I had a chai latte at different cafes around the city. Most of them were way too sweet and too light (too much milk, not enough tea). Some that weren’t too sweet (like at Tartine Bakery, where they make their own chai), were still too milky – with a diffused taste of the tea. 

Of course, I concluded that none of them could make good chai. After all, they didn’t grow up drinking it - as I did. And it wasn’t that good chai had to be made fresh. I have made chai for my Indian friends with my bottled Chai Brew, and turned them into believers –that good chai can come in a bottle! 

 To find out why Chai Lattes tasted so bland, I went to my friend’s café and made a Chai Latte using my Chai Brew and frothing it with milk using the espresso machine. Here is what I found out – 

Chai Brew + milk – heated over stovetop = tastes like homemade chai 

Chai Brew + milk – heated in microwave = tastes like homemade chai 

Chai Brew + steamed milk using espresso machine = tastes like a “chai latte” 

 I am not a food scientist and I have no way to explain why steaming the Chai Brew (or concentrate) with milk produces a different result than when heated in the microwave or over a stovetop. So now, I have a new-found respect for the words “Chai Latte”. 

I am not sure who coined the term (Starbucks?), but they did the right thing. A “Chai Latte” is black tea frothed with milk. Not to be confused with “Chai” – the traditional tea drink from India.

Chai the way it should be

Having grown up in India, "chai" is hard-wired in my brain to mean steeped black tea and milk. Sugar and spices are optional, though commonly added. 

However, here in the US, “chai” has morphed into something else. Increasingly, it is presented as black tea with spices like ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Last week I attended the Fancy Food Show held here in San Francisco. The ticket to attend was only $35 and in return, you get to sample loads of chocolates, cookies, jams, cheeses, etc for 3 full days. Not a bad deal for your taste buds (maybe not so much for your heart or waistline). 

As all the specialty tea companies were there too, I took this opportunity to try the “chai” from all these companies. Let me first say that all these companies are tea experts and use really good, high-quality tea to make their products. As you learn more about tea, you start to realize how similar it is to wine. All the teas come from the same plant (as wine comes from grapes), but every tea is so different as it is hugely impacted by the region, climate, season of harvest, method of picking and processing, etc. etc. 

As I went around the floor tasting “chai”, I was less than satisfied with everyone’s interpretation of what “chai” is. Whether it was loose leaf tea or tea bag, as I tasted sample after sample, my brain kept screaming “Where’s the MILK?!” 

 I used to roll my eyes when I would see “Chai Latte” at Starbucks - it combines 2 words from 2 different languages, is overly sweet, and has vanilla. But at least they had the basic idea right – it’s a hot drink with black tea and milk. Or maybe it is the word “Chai Latte” that led people to think that “Chai” is black tea with spices and it becomes a “latte” by adding steamed milk. 

 I know, I alone cant change how chai is being defined here in the US. But if you plan to travel to India, just remember when you are offered “chai”, expect to get black tea with milk. If you want it spicy, ask for “masala chai“ and if you are looking for plain black tea, then you should ask for “black tea, no milk, please”.

If failure is inevitable, why try?

I am really excited about this year…this is going to be a special year for all of us. How can it not be? It started with 1-1-11! 

 I feel especially optimistic this year. Not b’coz I am a lot wiser but also b’coz I have found the support of people who push me forward every time I'm stuck. It’s been a little over a year since I began my entrepreneurial journey and I don’t regret it one bit. Everything you read about entrepreneurship and hear from entrepreneurs is 100% true. But it takes your own experience to drive all those points home. 

Every entrepreneur will tell you that failure is inevitable. A successful entrepreneur will tell you how they found success in their failure. Learning from your mistakes is important. But the real secret to success is not the lessons themselves, or luck or new opportunities; it is determination and humility. 

 It is your determination that will push you to get over disappointments when things don’t go according to plan, will force you to innovate to overcome roadblocks, and will drive you to find new opportunities when things look bleak. 

  Humility will let you accept your mistakes, enable you to ask for help when you need it, make you appreciate the opportunities given to you, and will never let you take anything for granted. Mostly, it will make you personable. 

 In my blogs this year, I want to share what I have learnt about the food business and entrepreneurship. Not just in the abstract, but in specifics. My hope is that it may help others like me. At the very least, it will be a good reminder to me of what I have learnt.

THE HAPPINESS FRAMEWORK

Last week, I attended the Vator Splash event, where I had the opportunity to listen to a talk by Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos (sold to Amazon.com in 2009 for $1.2 billion). While his talk was mainly about building Zappos and the company culture within, it was the last 5 min of his presentation that really inspired me. He talked about the science of happiness and referred to one such framework, where he defined 3 levels of happiness as Pleasure, Passion, and Purpose. 

 Most of us, most of the time, seek happiness by pursuing things that give us pleasure. This kind of happiness is short-lived as such happiness cannot be sustained beyond the existence of the stimulus. The next level of happiness comes from pursuing your passion; this tends to last longer. The longest-lasting happiness, studies show, comes from a higher purpose – this is about being part of something that is bigger than just yourself. Tony went on to state that great companies are built on a similar framework – Profits, Passion, and Purpose. 

 When I started Green Coriander, I defined the purpose of Green Coriander long before I made a financial model show me how to make a profit (which is still an ongoing exercise). My purpose is to educate and encourage people to i) eat better ii) understand the sources of their food and iii) support sustainable food systems and lifestyle. 

 We provide a service that allows our customers to eat foods from good sources and empowers them with a choice if they love Indian food. The purpose stems from my passion for doing what we can to preserve our health and protect our environment. The purpose of The Chai Cart is rather simple - it is to deliver wholesome goodness in a cup. My belief is that if we remain true to our values and work hard to improve every single day, profits will follow. I also believe that by aligning passion with a purpose, happiness can be achieved with small pleasures in life. 

 Thank you, Tony for laying out a great framework – you indeed did live up to your goal of “Delivering Happiness”.

A NEW LIFE, A NEW WORLD

The Magic Carry Kart and the Creme Brulee cart - carts by the two brothers who started the street food phenomena in San Francisco - are planning their 1 year anniversary next week on March 6. And with my birthday approaching in a couple of days, I paused to think about the last 12 months. The Chai Cart is almost 7 months old. 

My present life or rather my lifestyle bears no resemblance to my life before I started The Chai Cart. I quit my job in December '09 and started a new venture, Green Coriander - San Francisco's first and only home delivery service for healthy and organic Indian food. There is no dearth of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, the mother ship of tech start-ups, and VC firms. There are hundreds of books, blogs, stories, articles, etc written on how to build a successful start-up. All of them geared towards creating the next Apple, Google, Facebook, or Zynga. 

Seven months back, that was my world. Entrepreneurship meant starting an internet-related service or product company. The Chai Cart opened my life to a whole new world. A world where customer service means a smile, not a call center; where lowering costs means saving an extra 5% on raw material, not cutting down on business class travel or lavish parties; where success is defined as being able to meet payroll and pay rent, not options worth seven figures. 

In this new world, I have met some of the most amazing people. And for the first time, I truly understand the meaning of the word "community". I often get emails from people around the world asking me for advice on starting a similar chai or food stand in their city. The first thing I say is - if you are doing it for money, then don’t do it. The food industry isnt the most profitable one. I take The Chai Cart out because I love hanging out with my food cart friends and love meeting people who stop by. 

I started Green Coriander because I passionately believe that we all should eat fresh, unprocessed foods and support a sustainable food system. 

 Life as an entrepreneur is not easy, yes we all heard that. Sleepless nights, crazy hours, personal sacrifices - life literally becomes a roller coaster. The only way you can pull through the lows and enjoy the highs is you inherently believe in yourself. your convictions and choose to follow your inner passion.

It's here! The perfect cup of Masala Chai!

Chai in the US has almost become synonymous with "Masala" Chai - a concoction of black tea with many different spices like cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, etc. I have never been a fan of Masala Chai - it’s either too peppery or too gingery or full of cloves. When I drink Chai, I want it to first taste the tea and then let the flavours, either ginger or cardamom or whatever, dance around my mouth till the next sip. Most of the time when I have a Masala Chai, I get hit by a burst of spices and I am left thinking "where is the tea?" 

 A lot of the Chai mixes one can buy (online or in stores) as well as the Chai found in most cafes are all various blends of "Masala" Chai - setting the expectation that Chai is meant to be spicy. The lone Chai Cart couldn’t fight that expectation. I had to cave in and do a Masala Chai - but it had to be one that I enjoyed drinking. 

Riding on the success of the Green Chili Chai, I thought it would be an easy task - throw in all the spices together and there you have it - Masala Chai. The first time I made it, I had to force myself to take the second sip. Yes, it was so bad. I blamed it on the old spices in my cabinet and made a trip to the Indian store in Berkeley to buy some fresh Indian spices. But that didn't help much. I had no such excuse for the second try, third try, or the fourth. I tried various combinations but each time I found one spice dominating. 

Just as I was about to give up in frustration, on a cold, rainy night, it all came together - that perfect cup of Masala Chai. I instantly fell in love with the complexity. On the first sip, I could taste the cardamom; with the second sip, the cloves and the hint of black pepper; there was definitely ginger in the next sip along with the cardamom, and the sweetness coming the cinnamon. The spices were perfectly balanced with the tea. 

 Is it weird to fall in love with one's own chai? Is it narcissism or is it a passion for perfection? I don’t judge. I drink chai and I sell the chai I love drinking.