Spice up your life and your health

If variety is the spice of life, then our Masala chai definitely gives it all its zest. Our signature Masala spice blend has an array of tastes, ranging from the floral, sweet, and aromatic notes from cardamom to the licorice taste of the fennel and the spicy, woody tones from dried ginger and black peppercorns. Not only do these spices provide an abundance of flavor, but they’re also brimming with powerful antioxidants and various healing properties. Here are a few facts I dug up on some of the spices we use in our Masala chai. 

  Cardamom 

Cardamom is considered one of the most valuable spices in the world and is used in almost every culture. According to the traditional wisdom of Ayurveda, cardamom helps in cleansing the body and is very effective in improving digestion. It helps with stomach cramps, flatulence, and gas. 

  Ginger 

Ginger is virtually a medicinal chest. Ginger is commonly used to treat various types of stomach problems, including motion sickness, morning sickness, colic, upset stomach, gas, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting, as well as the loss of appetite. It is good for healing upper respiratory tract infections, cough, and bronchitis. Other uses include pain relief from arthritis or muscle soreness, menstrual pain, etc. 

  Black Pepper 

From ancient times, black pepper is one of the most widely traded spices in the world. Black Pepper is good for digestion, prevents the formation of intestinal gas, and provides relief for cough and old. Because of its antibacterial properties, pepper helps to fight against infections and is also used to preserve food. 

  Cloves 

Cloves are one of the highly prized spices, widely recognized all over the world for their medicinal and culinary qualities. The spice has one of the highest concentrations of antioxidants. It acts as a mild anesthetic as well as an anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory agent. For this reason, it is used in widely in dentistry and related products. 

  Fennel 

Fennel is widely used around the world in mouth fresheners, toothpaste, desserts, and antacids. The health benefits of fennel include relief from anemia, indigestion, flatulence, constipation, colic, diarrhea, respiratory disorders, menstrual disorders, eye care, etc. 

  No Calories, No Fat 

If those facts were persuasive enough, consider this statement from Guy Johnson, a nutritional scientist from the McCormick Science Institute, “There's no nutritional downside to using herbs and spices. They have no calories. They have no fats. They make food more satisfying. They help modulate food intake. And they have components with substantial biological effects." 

 So why not do your body a favor and give your life some flavor?

We brew our chai with either organic whole milk or organic soy milk (for customers who do not drink/eat dairy). Almost every day, we get a customer requesting chai with non-fat milk or 2% milk. As much as we would like to give customers exactly what they want, we cannot. Mainly b'coz we don't make chai by the cup; all our chai is brewed at a commercial kitchen in the Mission and we transport it to the chai carts downtown in insulated containers that keep it hot for several hours. I've had chai made with whole milk for as long as I can remember. When I was little, growing up in India, we had our unpasteurized milk delivered every morning from the milkman who lived a mile away. It came straight from the cow or buffalo. It was creamy and tasty and no one worried about calories or fat content in chai. We drank chai in 6oz tea cups and not in 16oz Grande size mugs. Of course, India has come a long way since then and milk production and distribution in India has been centralized and is owned by large corporations. There are choices too - whole, skim, 2%, cream on top, etc. What hasn't changed though is my preference for a creamy cup of chai. There is a fine line between creamy and too milky. I prefer to use Clover Farms’ Organic Whole Milk. Clover Farms milk has a nice velvety texture and we choose organic simply b'coz it's more humane. Our chai has a 1/3rd cup of milk. Anything more would make it too milky. Those who are concerned about calories, you shouldn’t be. As we only lightly sweeten our chai (1 tsp per 8oz cup), the amount of sugar and calories in our chai is less than half of what you would get at your favorite coffee shop. Chai is personal and everybody has different preferences in taste and ways to make their favorite cup. I like mine with whole milk and you may like yours with almond milk. And when it comes to skim milk, I couldn't have said it better than Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation: