Search
Login
5 min
19/01/2026
Tea is an ancient beverage that was, quite literally, ‘blowing in the wind’ and landed in hot water in China centuries ago. Your favourite chai, however, is unfortunately tied to the British. But don’t let that irk you and mistake it for just another colonial import. Because in India, this beverage has come a long way from ‘just tea’ to an all-consuming obsession. How did a foreign beverage transform into a cultural phenomenon that fuels everything from morning routines to intense political debates?
Tea is the way of life for many Indians, who cannot do even a day without a single sip of piping hot tea, be it from their own kitchen or from a tapri. Chai in India went through complex processes of transformation, quite literally. Through urbanisation, then gaining class consciousness, and slowly getting ingrained in the social fabric of the Indian diaspora. The Boomer generation, more than others, saw this steady change, and the non-drinkers in their youth can be seen inseparable from their daily cup of chai.
Tea’s story begins in China, around 2732 BCE. According to legend, Emperor Shen Nong was boiling water when a few wild leaves drifted in. Curious, he sipped the accidental brew and felt a rush of warmth and clarity ripple through his body. He named the drink ‘ch’a’, meaning to inspect or examine – a nod to its invigorating effects.
By the 17th century, tea had travelled to the West, becoming a royal obsession in Europe. The Portuguese and Dutch were among the first to import it, trading gold and silver for the coveted leaf. Tea was rare, expensive, and exclusive – sipped only by aristocrats, who turned the act of drinking it into a performance of elegance and status.
Moving Southwards, tea cultivation in India kicked off under British rule. In the early 1800s, the tea-obsessed East India Company, desperate to break China’s monopoly in the tea market, began experimenting with smuggled tea plants and wild varieties. It started in 1774, around the foothills in the North of Delhi. But all efforts were in vain and none bore fruit.
It was only after 1823 that Assam’s wild tea, a cousin of the Chinese variety, was discovered, being cultivated by the Singpho tribe, for medicinal benefits. They brewed something called Singpho Phalap tea (it has a GI tag), a unique, bamboo-aged tea, using their ancestral tea-making techniques. The British caught them sipping on this tea, and soon after, Assam’s subtropical forests were cleared in a mad rush and turned into vast tea estates. Labourers (including indentured ones) were exploited, and most of the output was destined for export.
Despite huge tea production, consumption in India remained low well into the 20th century. To change this, the British set up the Indian Tea Market Expansion Board (ITMEB) in the 1930s, launching one of the largest marketing campaigns in Indian history. They handed out sample packets, set up demonstration vans, sent female propagandists into purdah‑observing households, used signage, advertisements, festivals, and bazaars to teach the ‘correct’ way to drink tea. Tea breaks were also promoted in workplaces to boost productivity. Though nationalist leaders pushed against its adoption, the Brits pushed right back, marketing tea as modernity.
Over time, British techniques gave way to local improvisation: boiling tea leaves with milk, sugar, and spices like adrak (ginger) and elaichi (cardamom). The CTC (Crush, Tear, Curl) process, gaining traction in the 1960s‑70s, made ‘danedar’ grainy tea cheap and perfectly suited for the strong, spicy, milky chai people craved.
After Independence, tea took on a nationalist narrative – Swadeshi tea became a symbol of home, identity, and unity. Advertisements began showing Indian women, in Indian homes, making tea. The result? Chai became a daily ritual across class, caste, and geography.
Post the chai integration, chai stalls (tapris) popped up on every street corner, railway platform, and office lane. Vendors served it in clay kulhads, steel glasses, plastic cups – whatever was on hand. Today, chai is more than a drink – it’s an emotion. It’s offered to guests before water and consumed in every possible imaginable place and occasion.
instagram
facebook
youtube