I am back from India with a lot of tea related information. I want to start with Chai masala. I have been tried chai masala in sixteen different shops, street vendors and restaurants from lower to upper scale. But one thing surprised me that none of their chai masala has the same taste. Some chai masala were more cloves flavor, some more ginger flavor and some extra spicy, some extra sweet. Even I haven't seen any similarity with Bangladeshi Masala Cha.
Then I tried to crack inside the masala mix formula. I bought the masala mix from different vendors and again different taste. End of my research is- Chai masala has no strict mixing theory. It's all depends on personal taste. Though I am still working on the chemical taste with one of my chemist friend. None of those masala mix came up with the same spices. I have talked with many Indian people (Bengali, Gujrati, Tamil, Shiks etc.) But none of them were able to give me a specific answer of the masala mix. But my understanding is- the individual spice level (inside the masala mix) depends person to person, state to state, region to region. Will let you know more after the whole chemical analysis.
I have taken a lots of picture of preparing Masala Chai. But don't know, how to show you here. I am very happy to come back to my lovely country, especially to my kitchen where- I have my huge collection of teas. I came back with lots of tea and don't know where to keep them. Another piece of interesting information I would like to add with this post- I have talked with many top tea company's CEO and tea tasters but none of them had clear idea about Chinese tea. Some of them even never heard of Yunnan, Keemun or Lapsang Souchong. Even when I tried to explain the exotic taste of Chinese tea, they start talking about delicate Darjeeling tea. To me they even don't want to talk about Chinese tea except one tea taster. I have meet many wonderful people who helped me generously with information. One of them was- tea legends is Mr. Ashok Lohia( Supply tea to Hareny & Sons). He is a very busy person but kindly talked with me over the phone and sends his Export manager Mr. Vivek M. Atal ( This gentleman really knows a lot about tea). He came to my hotel and educated me about Indian tea with a lot of new information. Mr. Moitra from Sharaia group worked so hard to collect all Indian tea samples for me during this off-season. We became friends for life time. He is working as an export manager of this on of the largest Indian tea exporter. Being a Indian Bengali, he treated me as his brother. Mr. C. H. Shah Director(Marketing) of Premier's tea helped me so generously. He let me use his personal car and gave me the chance to visit his tea processing factory. Stayed with me the whole day and let me talk with many tea experts from his company. He is a western graduate with open minded young man. Both of us having business background, same kind of educational background, same culture. We felt very close to each other, our mental connection was almost the same. From tea to history and politics- we talked about everything. Also Mrs. Ray(Director of Tea promotion bureau) from Tea board of India who gave me all the information about Indian tea industry. Many more friends who never let me feel, I was in a foreign land. Great food, tea and chat.
Also meet Mr. Silva a very experienced tea broker from Sri Lanka who was doing some marketing research about Indian tea. Gave me some wonderful Dimbula tea. He was in the same hotel with me and many evenings, we had beer and have exchanged information about Ceylon and Bangladeshi tea. Hope to visit him very soon in Sri Lanka.
Dear tea lovers, I don't know where to start. Can you please help me, where to start? Thanks.
Ripon (Dhaka, Bangladesh)