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.