The DARK HISTORY of Masala CHAI | CHEF KEITH SARASIN exposes the history of this iconic INDIAN drink
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- čas přidán 16. 01. 2022
- In 2020 I took a class on food and politics with Ragini Kashyap (IG:@thirdculturecooks ) and Dr. Kurush Dalal (IG @kurushdalal). Little did I know that class would change my life and it all started with Chai
To properly tell the history of tea would take volumes of videos so today I want to talk about the dark side of chai, specifically masala chai or cutting chai
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First, if you are from the west we need to have a quick talk…
Chai means tea..
Let that sink in for a second..
So stop writing chai tea on menu because it literally means tea tea..
Ok… Back to learning.
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When it comes to chai there are incredible amounts of chai across India, as an example, here are just some of the ones I am familiar with. ((do add any I missed in the comments below))
Masala chai
Sulimani chai Ghava’ or ‘Kattan Chaya
Kashmiri kahwa
Adarak
Tulsi
Lebu Cha - Kolkata
Cardamom chai
Sheer chai
Gulabi chai
Bombay cutting chai
Irani chai
Tandoori chai
Amruttulya chaha -
Kangra chai - leaves
Nilgiri chai - leaves
Butter tea aka gur gur tea
Doodh pati
Karak chai
subhah ki chai
Nun Chai
Parsi Choi
Smoked tea
Tandoori chai
Gavti chaha
Kori chai
Nagori chai
Garhwali chai
The history Masala chai cannot be discussed without the East India Company.
They were the only trading company that garnered permission from Queen Elizabeth I to trade with India.
When the company arrived in Surat in 1608, the original plan was to purchase goods like silk and cotton cheaply, then turn around and sell them to the British for more....
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About Me:
Chef Keith’s exciting take on Indian cuisine uses his passion for the spices and flavors of the Indian subcontinent with fresh, seasonal ingredients from New England farms to create a dining experience like no other.
Years ago, he dipped a charred piece of bread into a rich gravy that soaked each crumb like a sponge. He raised it to his mouth and closed his eyes, and that is where his journey began.
Chef Keith is a three-time author, restauranteur, and public speaker who grew up in a small city in New Hampshire in the United States. Growing up in kitchens, he learned how to cook from many amazing western chefs. Each chef would impart the knowledge passed down to them by their mentors. It wasn’t until much later in life that he would try his first bite of Indian food. He began learning under an Indian home cook and went on to study with food archeologists and historians from across India.
Keith is the co-host of the More Than Masala Podcast as well as the chef owner of Aatma Restaurant & The Farmers Dinner. He is also the author of 4 best selling cookbooks
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Please watch: "The BEST bite of Indian Food In Mumbai?!? Exploring O'Pedro in BKC"
• The BEST bite of India...
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Today I got your video recommendation from CZcams ( I fell in love with Indian food ) I saw , I liked the vedio , so now I'm your new subscriber from 🇮🇳
Woo!! Thank you so much!
masala chai was like the Boston tea party of India.
the economics play a big role in the food culture and how it shapes the humans.
today the the dust is more relevant then the original tea, if you ask a common man he would prefer the low grade tea then the the high grade one.
we have to talk about the importance of milk and sugar when we talk about chai it made the burnt and bitter taste of the dust tea to be palatable.
and Indians adapted to masala chai so much so that we can not go with out it. we started calling breaks as tea breaks and any guest in the house will get offended if we don't offer them chai.
so it has become a integral part of our day to day life.
nice topic as it touches the hearts of Indians, the one thing we Indians miss the most abroad is the road side masala chai.
and we always talk about how expensive the masala chai is in other countries when its the cheapest drink you get in India which anyone can afford.
great job keep educating and keep growing.
Suchhhh a great comment. This is sooo correct
Imagine rainy day and mom making masala chai with pakodas ☺️☺️
This might be heaven haha
Nice story. I am a huge Tea enthusiast. a TEPIDOPHOBIC. Love the way you explained the journey.
Another fact I would like to add is that to make Indians drink more team, it was forced in some way by Brits. Whenever the workers go on break, they were asked to drink tea, before the meal, so that they would consume less food as they found that drinking tea makes you less hungry. This way the workers became habitual to the tea and hence TEA BREAK became popular among the workers' community.
Great point!! Thank you sooo much for being a part of our community here
Before chai ... My elders were drinking "kashaya" a drink which is made with pounded corridor, Cumin and pepper boiled with milk..
Wow! I didn’t know this. Thank you for sharing. I need to try this
Yess true said, Chai tells history...with a cup of Chai in morning, again we get start up to creat history...in evening hanging with friends, sharing whole day routine with Chai.
Finally someone from the west who takes time and patience to discover the "Atma" of India and discovers his "Atma" in the process...Keep up the good work Chef 👍
Thank you so much!
Being an Indian, I didn't know so much about the food you talked about in your videos. Thanks a lot. I hope you're doing well. It would be great to see you visit India as travel + food vlogger. You'll be amazed to see different culture and food after 100-150 kms.
Wow. I love this comment. Thank you for watching and my plan is to be in India this year!
@@chefKeithSarasin That's great. Waiting for your arrival. 🙏🙂
"Rebellion's pretty cool. Keep rebelling "
- Chef Sarasin 2022
Hahaha yessssss
I love this! You’re giving me quite an education!! I can’t wait to learn more! Thank you!! 🌟❤️
Aww. Thank you sooo much for watching. I mean it!!
Even in the 70s and 80s, Dust tea was a phenomenon. Although by that time it was considered even inferior than CTC tea ( you could only strain dust teas with a muslin cloth and not a regular sieve ). In my home in the 90s, we used a mixture of CTC and Lipton Green Label tea (not green tea) in 4:1 proportion. It tasted great. In winters we replace sugar with Jaggery for making tea. Actually it is not rebellion, but ‘Assimilation with Ingenuity’ . Even if something is oppressive, we Indians will find one good quality in it, enhance it through local flavours, and make it ours. A great episode. Congratulations.
Thank you for this comment! This was amazing.
Woww never thought someone from USA will make such a deep knowledgeable videos on india food
Still learning but glad to share
Cant wait to see this channel hitting 1M subscribers Mark. Absolutely love the way Keith represents the Indian Food (with Aatma of course! )
Thank you my friend
Hi, very rarely CZcams recommends me a good channel but sometimes it does. I like your videos. Lots of things to learn. Do keep sharing.
Thank you so much my friend. Really appreciate your comment!
This was a great episode.... especially the end.... thank you for this wonderful episode.
Thank YOU for watching
Love your videos, and especially love your own authenticity - Cheers to you, Keith ❤️
Thank you so much my friend.
Hopped over from David’s channel! You’re so knowledgeable and your pronunciation is spot on! Loving your content! Subbed! ♥️
Thank you so much. This means sooooooo much to me!
This is my 3rd video i am watching after recommendation. Your curiosity about foods is superb. Keep going ahead. 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you so much!
Hey, Chef loved the history of tea. This is what I like about food. It can not only reveal personal or family history but some aspects of a country's history as well.
Absolutely agree. Thank you for watching
To Ragini.....India gained independence and Pakistan got created.
Hey Keith I also luv ur videos. I was wondering how did I miss ur videos for so many days.Keep up the work buddy
Thank you sooooo much my friend
History + food =my fav combo (to watch with a cup of chai)
Wooo! Thanks for watching
This is so enlightening! 💥
Why doesn't this channel grow as fast as it rightly deserves? 🤔
I’m trying :) thanks for being here
Amazing Video.... Kudos to you n Ragini such an awsome video
Thank you so much!!
Never knew about this , thank you for this .
Thank YOU for watching!
Besides that we have Paradise which also the highest biryani selling point in the world n pista house which is also the highest selling haleem point in the world Alpha cafe sec-bad, red rose, Sarvi cafe and more
Great to see your videos Hi from UK Birmingham. I like to see you like Yellow Dal my favourite. Hope to see your chanel grow.Good luck 😃
Love that idea. I definitely will
Thank you all sooo much for watching these videos. Do follow Ragini Kashyap on IG (@thirdculturecooks) and if you learned something, share this with your friends!
Thank you all for being a part of our little community
1) One story that my mother tells me - initially to make Indians used to tea. British used to offer some small benefits. Once people started drinking it ,they had to pay for it.
2) one correction, before independence present day Burma was part of Bharat(India) . Ahom dynasty ruled Assam for almost 6 centuries and they successfully repelled Mughal invasions to their territory.
Thank yoy
Wow..That was a great video...Yes..The people before Independence of India could not afford chai to give them to their guests or have themselves. My Granny and Grand pa told me that if a visitor came to our house..Or rather anybody's house they were given jaggery and water. The visitor/guest would first have (eat) one small stone sized jaggery and then he would drink the water after chewing the jaggery.. It was not affordable for common man... Great video Chef Keith and Ragini...Loads of love from India 🇮🇳🌷🙏
Aww thank you for this comment. That’s amazing
Lopchu brand from Darjeeling...another popular brand that I am fond of Keith.
Must try that one!
Did not know the history behind chai , thank for sharing your knowledge 🙏🏼
Thank you for watching!
Aren't you from New england?? Home of the famous Boston tea party!! Another act of rebellion with tea..cheers !!!
Absolutely!!! :)
Great research my friend, as an Indian I was clueless about the dark side of the Chai. Thanks.
BTW I am from Surat where British landed first in India. Subscribed. 🙏
1. Thanks for subscribing
2. That’s crazy!! So much history from there!
3. Thanks for the comment too :)
Wow! Thanks for the history lesson.
Glad you enjoyed it
@@chefKeithSarasin In hotel buffets in Goa, there was "milk tea" (what I would call chai) and black tea.
There are songs in parts of india+bengal still popular, related to boyfriend wooing the potential lov intrest to lure her to assam and work in tea plantations and have a happy family with her, because he heard from friends about the life and wealth in those plants (obviously lie)..
truthful to its core
Thank you my friend
They use full fat buffalo milk and the original process is huge also originally they used to use goat bone powder or osmania salt cookie powder and took over 4 hours to make. So the cafes started making at around 12am coz the cafes open at 4 am
Drinking masala chai while watching this, in cold delhi weather :)
Yummmm. :) stay warm
The best thing is, I am now surrounded by a tea garden!
Great video again, bud 😊
Woo!! Thanks for the comment and for being here!
Already subscribed. Waiting for you to dive into a kitchen in india. The flavours of Indian food are best experienced in india . The local fresh ingredients like various masalas and vegetables are going to amaze you. Waiting for your indian sojourn.
( by the way you got recommended today and I have seen most of your videos today)
Hey there. Thank you soooo much. Seriously. I never imagined people would care about this Channel so thank you.
I can’t wait to be in india and I will record the whole thing
I wonder how much early grey tea was inspired by the idea of indian spiced tea
Good point. To be honest I’m not sure and my reading hasn’t shown that
Not to mention the acres of pristine forest land that was destroyed in India to make way for these tea plantations. They make great vacation spots with scenic views in hills stations but not many people realize that it was once a rich biodiverse forest which is now fragmented and still vulnerable.
This. Absolutely true and soooo painful to think about
Also research how white sugar was introduced in India 🇮🇳 by the British.
That’s a huge topic that I would love to tackle at some point
Oh I'm so glad you clarified that, Chai means Tea and not Chai tea 😂
Love the work you're doing bro 🤘
Thank you my friend. You rock!
this is good stuff. if you are interested in tea and like reading novels, id recommend the book called "Makam" by Rita Chowdhury (the English translation is named "Chinatown Days". Makam is in Assamese). the story takes place before all the events mentioned by Ragini and tells of how the Scottish adventurer Robert Bruce discovered the Singpho people dinking tea in todays Upper Assam. that is what kick started the whole EIC growing tea in Assam business. it also discusses the cultural exhanges caused by the laborers brought from China into Assam and the establishment of the China Town in Kolkata etc. its a great read; cant recommend it enough.
Oh wow. Thank you for this!!
Thank you, Keith and Ragini, for sharing the history of masala chai with us! We love the Indians act of rebellion - we will think of them even more fondly and proudly whenever we drink a delicious cup of masala chai. ☕️
Actually masala chai is result of an war...
A war between British and China....
And the history of Chai is incomplete without the history of another addictive substance...
Called Opium.
British came to India for spices not primarily for silk. And here is special mention about black pepper. .
See In my childhood, I grew up with an Idea that Black pepper is an British/European ingredient as most of the European cooking shows that I watched in TV used Black Pepper where as hardly any Indian recipes used that ingredient.
Later I came to know that India was and still is the largest exporter of Black pepper..... and the humble chilli we Indians use in our everyday cooking came to us just 300-400 years back.
British were the last amongst the europeans to come to India... First were Portuguese... Then came the Dutch and French.... British came last. Other than India they also started traing with china for silk and Tea.... But the price they were paying for tea was excessively high. So they started to cultivate opium in India, specially in Bengal.. And used to export the opium to China in exchange of Tea. (The byproduct of opium is poppyseeds... Which was a 'commonly' used spice/cooking ingredient in Bengal until recently).
After the opium wars export of opium stopped... British had to find a way so that the trade of tea continues ... But obviously it wasn't profitable for them to buy Tea from the Chinese and sell that to European market. So they started to grow tea leaves in hills of Assam and later in Darjeeling.
Here I need to mention that cofee came to South India earlier than tea. Coffee came to India with Arab traders who used to trade with the southern part of India.
@@kundusayan1 so all this information is very correct and I feel like I could’ve made a three hour video on the topic of Chai
Yes sir before tea,till my grand mother' s time we did make itwe used to drink jaggery water with elachi and dry ginger,melted jaggery water mixed with boiled and cooled water,it's excellent and healthy
Oh that sounds amazing :)
@@chefKeithSarasin yes ,only because you and Sri David started videos highlighting the goodness of Indian food i started thinking about the traditional foods n utensils that I saw used in my paternal home,thank you, now I started making traditional foods again
So interesting.. I knew about how tea was popularized in India for profit by the British but what I knew was barely the surface. what an untold and interesting story that unfolds in the cup !
Yes!!! This right here is why I made the channel. You made my day!
Chef. I just Want to Thankyou from the center of my heart for going so deep into the history and sharing it with us .
I am an INDIAN yet i didn't knew so many things about my own culture. It's amazing to rediscovering our own roots back. Thankyou so much. I really respect your efforts.
Thank YOU my friend. I deeply appreciate this
@@chefKeithSarasin 😊💜
Wowww
:)
Loved it when you said chai means tea and chai tea basically means tea tea. I find it so funny whenever I see a cafe menu saying Chai Tea. Another one is Chai Latte. Latte literally means milk in Italian. And Chai, as per oxford dictionary, is tea with milk, sugar and sometimes spices. So that makes Chai Latte ‘Tea with milk-milk’. Makes no sense.
Absolutely.
Like naan bread!
Thank god you clarified the West calling Chai tea... Chai means tea, don't understand why it is called tea tea literally.
Yah same. It’s soooo annnoying
Ragini missed out on a major marketing campaign by British to make Tea 'common man's drink in India. The first major experiment of the Indian Tea Association (founded in 1881) for globalising tea began in the railways. ... After World War I, petty contractors were provided with tea packets and kettles to serve at the chief railway junctions of Bengal, Punjab and North West provinces...
Very less content on history of tea in India, thanks for doing this 👍. I being a tea enthusiast do visit various tea estates in Darjeeling and try to score their best produce. In my recent visit during Christmas I went to Makaibari, it's one of the first (maybe even the first) tea factory on this side of the Himalayas.
Thank you for watching!
You are doing great 🔥
Thank you!
Thanks for explaining chai means tea… nothing else but tea…. Not any special category of tea but just tea in general….
Thanks for watching :)
With you Keith Bhai. Keep it going.
Dhanyvaadji
@@chefKeithSarasin How about you start a series covering spies /pulses / edible flora and fauna local to India ( like fruits vegetables herbs flowers which are known for being famous local ingredients with medicinal properties and have reputation of being super food in the west) you get the idea. You are up to a good start. You can probably name the series something like demystifying the spice box or something. You being a chef can also throw light on cooking techniques for the culinarily challenged series like dorm life style self cooking tips( region wise, The content does not have to be India specific alone. I would really be interested in knowing what an exchange student from west Africa cooks at his/her dorm room when he/she misses home ) . Can also cover things that can be grown in you house series hydroponics or otherwise. How about everyday Indian grandma home remedies thru the regions. The options are endless bro do it with passion all the best. FYI the list of your familiar Chai's itself can spawn a shots video playlist.
Some part of history is vague coz we in Hyderabad Telangana south of India had tea for four centuries is called Irani Chai
Nilofer tea cafe is the highest selling chai point for a single branch coz they sell approximately 20k tea every day at am average
You have incredible knowledge on Indian cuisine which even we Indians don't have 😁😁
Speak for yourself, Sir 😀
There are sooooo many brilliant food researchers on the subcontinent!! Thank you for your kindness
Wow this is amazing history. I knew from my dad the tea powder usually bought from tea shops known as premium ctc was just scrap initially sold to locals whereas the goody goody stuff was exported. Plus nearly every house hold in India they cook the tea powder in milk and water. The Brits and other nationals just brew tea that was another thing I learned over time and now usually as family we try to buy tea leaves over tea powder. I found some good stores in Goa that sell expensive tea leaves and it's usually for the foreigners (non Indians ) who come as tourists to the country.
@@GoodPalate That guy is a troller. Don't reply to those things.
@@asimghatak2155 oh thanks. I have had a few negative comments off late from another guy named vk s on Davidsbeenhere as well..so I was wondering why so much negativity. Thanks for the heads up
@@upsidedownshield5408 too*
@@upsidedownshield5408 I had read in my psychology class that people who are pathetic, ineffectual and timid creatures in real life behave like trolls on social media. This is cos it provides them an illusion of control and satisfies their ego. Your one word responses are one of the salient features of such people. There are other features which I won't elaborate but I am waiting eagerly for your response cos it will give me live examples of such creatures. Chalo ab bako, I am waiting.
I loved your comment! Thanks so much for being a part of our community here!
I loved the ending
Thank you! I did too. It’s nice to just reflect and rant a bit
Let me tell you keith, you are doing so great with these video, you really are touching peoples Atma,. Thanks keep doing that, may peace and taste stay with you for ever.
Wow. Thank you so much. I needed this today!
@@chefKeithSarasin lots of love.
@@chefKeithSarasin :)
I have never seen a single branch sell more Irani Chai or any other chai all over India N I have travelled all over
Chai is love
Small Correction: Burma came to Assam in 1817 not 13th century and British faught with Burma few years after that and signed treaty of yandaboo in 1826... That's how British took control over Assam, and there are few interesting stories about how tea actually discovered in this region. Moreover some of our frontier tribe use to drink tea before the arrival of British (of course not with the modern method)
Correct! The East India Company convinced the Assamese that it wanted to protect them when it went to war with Burma in 1824.
Awesome loved it 👍
Awesome! Thanks Paul!! You rock
@@chefKeithSarasin 😊
Wow that was a beautiful video. Subscribed a couple videos back
Thank you so much!
This history reminds me of a tamil film which talks about such plantation workers. Check out that "paradesi" Shows the story of people taken as indentured labours...
I will thank you for this recommendation
❤️🙏
Lesson learned:. Keep rebelling
:)
0:51 Well done. My pet peeve too.
Haha yessss :)
yayyyy
♥️♥️♥️
in uk a cup of tea is still called a cup of cha
I love that the word still gets use
Hey keith,
another good one. never looked at tea with this perspective, thank you. Would be interesting to know how coffee came.
As per family lore, our great grand father caught the habit by what ragini says... about tea drinking being promoted by free distribution. He was the only tea drinker for a long time, everyday about 5am he would make a cup of tea sans the masala n if any of the grandkids were awake he would force them a sip, kids found it bitter and would fake sleep till after he finished his tea n washed the vessels :)
Side notes..
1) The thing you said about taking a very frugal/humble/cheap(refused)thing, owning it and elevating it to gourmet(?) level ...is it unique indian way? Would like your take on it. I think it is unique to indians due to our food philosophy+vagaries of nature, but dont hv a exposure to anything outside of india, so maybe i am wrong
2)Would be interesting to see your take on how every foreign dish/ingredient is indianised.
Hey my friend. There is soooooo much to say on this topic and I think you inspired a video with you comment :)
Coffee has been in India longer than tea but never got the marketing campaign tea did.
@@EagleOverTheSea this is absolutely true!
✌️🙏
🤚🏻👍🏻👍🏻
😍👍🙏
Wooo!! :)
South India has been drinking coffee for much longer time ☕
So it has been quiet some time
Love your correct pronunciation of ASSAM 👌❤️
Thank you. :) so much love for Assam
@@chefKeithSarasin not only does Assam have wonderful Tea and Culture , it also has the last of India's Rhino 🦏
Did you know Lions and Rhinos are not just found in Africa , but also in India ? 😊
@@shatnermohanty6678 yup, i hope we still have efforts to keep them from going extinct, Our contries nature is like no other, Somehow we all need to take a keen look at our declining natural heritage.
Please add jammu kashmir jammu on your wishlist when you next come to India ❤
Would love to
No discussion of chai can be complete without Nirmal's fantastic comedic (and educational) video sketch on tea :
czcams.com/video/Db0_TQz-v38/video.html ("Why India Drinks So Much Tea"). Watch the whole thing, please. It's pretty good. The real history part starts about 3 mins in...
Actually my grandma remembers this campaign
She said westerners were making fools us using this chaa(chai in our language accent)
Wow. That’s terrible :( I hope humanity doesn’t better
Therz Sulaimaani Chai
K-tea
Irani Chai
Masala Chai
Tulsi Chai
Adarakh ka chai
Elaichi chai
Herbal chai
& d list goes on.
But I like filter coffee or should I kaapi😀😁😂🤣
Good additions. Thank you
@@chefKeithSarasin I seriously did not know abt this black history of chai in India. Although I'm an Indian myself. Very interesting to learn about d country that we live & from a person who lives in d other side of d globe. This shows ur interest in India & Indian food history.
Spicy cleanse Masala CHaai..
Jai Aatma..
Cheers,
Pradeep.
Pollachi,Tamilnadu.
Jai aatma!! Thank you!
@@chefKeithSarasin Cheers mate...
That rebellious nature took the high, when *Chicken Tikka Masala* became the national dish of England.
Haha fair
Wonder if this is why the south still prefers coffee over tea.
Good point. I actually don’t know the answer
@@chefKeithSarasin Except for Telangana which has chai culture more than coffee. Like the lady mentioned in the video, Irani chai was/still is very popular all over Hyderabad (my hometown) as well, thanks to the Parsis having Irani cafes all over the city similar to Bombay.
D
Chai ✖️
Chai tea latte✅🗿
Keith, the effort you put into these videos, I am afraid it may not be worth it :(
If you just made (mindless) reaction videos, with bad editing and horrible production quality - that would probably get you much more views than this - and it's quite sad.. We don't deserve you.
I am rooting for your channel and hope it takes off.
Thank you for the kindness but I’m doing this for all of us. For you who shows up and writes a comment to the thousands of people who are subscribing. WE deserve this.
No Assam was it's own kingdom
😂😂 tea tea
That apart I really feel terrible about our colonial past. At least the nation has moved on
Glad to hear a white person clarify Chai and Chai Tea...Now just have to convince millions to learn the difference. Same with Naan Bread!!!!
Haha heard. On it.
Chai wala....
It now has political overtones LOL
Now u will say masala chai not from india , it maybe from western or asian...
Nope. Totally from Indian and it embodies how amazing the people from India are :)
The history you are talking about happened at a time when India and China used to be the 2 richest countries in the world. So just tell me how can you make something in today's America cheaply and sell that product in India to make high profits...