During winter holidays my family and I would visit our relatives in Gwalior. We would take trips to the city center (“Sudder” street) and have Kashmiri chai. This chai never tasted as good in Singapore where we lived, and I would rarely have it there since it was too hot for the temperate climate. Plus my parents didn’t want me developing a caffeine addiction.

The great thing about the chai wallah we went to was that he was my dad’s primary school friend and would give us “special” treatment. I’d get my chai in a white paper cup with extra pistachios because he knew I enjoyed the added texture. I would sip it very very slowly — savoring it as much as possible. As we drank our chais by the roadside, I would hear stories of my dad when he was my age while he reminisced with his chai wallah buddy.

Shandeep Sharma contemplating chai under the Manhattan Bridge

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Under the 7 train

Tinny Bollywood music drifted out of a roadside chaat shop and the smell of samosas frying filled the hot, sticky air. We bumped into a six-foot sardar pitching palm reading services. The only future we were interested in at the moment was where we were going to find the best chai in the neighborhood. Without hesitation, he directed us to Al Naimat Restaurant & Sweets at the corner of 74^th St and 37^th Ave. Twirling his wiry white mustache, he promised their chai was “Sab se acchi.” He was right. Al Naimat’s chai was incredibly tasty. While standard masala chai was on the menu, we opted for a cup of Kashmiri chai. Light pink, delicately spiced and topped with crushed pistachios and almonds, the taste was closer to a rose-infused milk sweet than the gingery brew more commonly found at chai stands around India. It went perfectly with the mithai we snacked on – rich pista barfi and super sweet gulab jamun.

Kashmiri chai

Eager to discover what exactly made the chai so delicious, we chatted up Rusha, who was running the sweets counter. She was perfectly happy to talk about the restaurant, her family in Pakistan, and life in Queens. But she couldn’t let us in on the secret recipe – the chai wallah had left for the day, and he was the only one who knew exactly how it was made. Rusha did, however, reveal the surprising ingredient behind Kashmiri chai’s pink color: a dash of baking soda. She invited us to come back to meet the chai wallah and learn his special recipe.

We wish we could return to Al Naimat. Alas, we have packed our bags and are heading to India in just a few days. Inshallah, we will come across many variations on Al Naimat’s Kashmiri chai during our travels – perhaps we’ll even get the chance to whip up a pot with chai wallahs in Srinagar. For those of you who can’t make the flight to Kashmir, there’s always the 7 train to Jackson Heights.

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These stories are too good not to share, so we’re launching the Chai Diaries series. These posts will feature stories we accumulate of memories made over chai. We would love to feature your tea tale — if you have one, please share it by filling out this form!

Tea stall ink drawing, 1984 by Walter Ordway

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