BENGALURU: A love for coffee in all forms – filter, frappe and more, – runs deep in this city. But over the years, exclusive tea outlets have also been cropping up in Bengaluru. But unlike your usual roadside stall, these joints take the tea experience up a notch with their extensive varieties of flavours (think Gulkand, Aam Papad or Gur Chai) and the customisation options available.
For example, at Chaayos, a patron can customise their cuppa in dozens of ways, including how much water to add, the milk to water ratio and mixing two flavours to create a new one altogether. “We offer four different milk levels, two levels of tea leaves along with sugar levels and spices at one flat price,” says Nitin Saluja, founder of Chaayos, which was founded in 2012. While these customisation options are a definite add-on, Saluja emphasises that India’s love for chai goes way back. He explains, “According to the NSS data of 2012, 30 cups of tea is consumed to each cup of coffee. India is a chai-consuming nation and each state has more chai consumption than coffee, even in Tamil Nadu, where four cups of tea are consumed to each cup of coffee.”
But there’s more driving this trend. While a quick sip at your local vendor does prove to be lighter on the pocket, one can’t avoid the allure of the options these outlets provide, alongside a range of fresh and warm snacks to accompany it. “I like that I get to choose exactly what goes into my beverage. Additionally, the food options available are things I’d expect to find in a home kitchen too, which makes it better,” says 23 year-old engineering student Vinyas P.
Started in 2017, Tata Cha has close to six stores in the Bengaluru market, which was chosen for the pilot phase. They cited the growing trend of eating outdoors as their prime reason for entering the market. These outlets offer the usual ginger and masala tea, along with innovative ones like Chatpata Churan and Gulkand tea. The food menu includes Butter Chicken Khichdi, Dal Pakwan and Cafreal Pocket Parathas from Goa, which they claim are about reviving lost Indian recipes that evoke nostalgia. “As Indians, we love our food and beverages but in most cases these are not provided in an aspirational surrounding. We offer customisations as per taste and we take the concept further with the food and ambience in order to provide a certain warmth with respect to the experience,” says Sushant Dash, president, Tata Global Beverages, adding that thanks to India’s tea-drinking culture, there are more evolved tea drinkers in the country whereas coffee is something that is now catching up but “will go on to co-exist.”
While new chai players have received appreciation aplenty, the same doesn’t bother Gaurav Saria, the man behind Infinitea, the tea-room that has catered to Bengalureans for more than a decade.
According to him, Indiranagar has close to 40 tea shops and when people try one of the new players in the market, they tend to understand what his brand of tea stands for. “New players in the market mean customers understand where the premium is being charged,” he says, citing Darjeeling tea, herbal infusions and green tea as the ones among people’s favourites.