Issue #9 of the Chai Bhai newsletter. Pre-monsoon. One month to go.
The Chai-Monsoon Complex
There is a phenomenon in India that is so culturally embedded it barely requires explanation to anyone who has lived there: the arrival of the first monsoon rain triggers, within minutes, the boiling of water for chai.
This is not purely habitual. It is physiological, psychological, and — to use a word that food scientists take seriously — sensory context.
The air just before and during the first rain carries petrichor — the scent produced by geosmin, a compound released by soil bacteria when rain wets dry ground. Geosmin is one of the molecules humans can detect at the lowest concentrations of anything in our olfactory range — a few parts per trillion. The first rain is, literally, an overwhelming olfactory event.
Paired with the dramatic drop in temperature, the reduction in light, and the sound of rain on the roof, the sensory context created by monsoon arrival is one of the strongest flavour-enhancing environments possible. Any food or drink consumed in these first rain moments is going to taste extraordinary — but chai, served hot and spiced and fragrant, is matched to the conditions like a key to a lock.
Adrak Chai in the Rain: The Recipe
The canonical monsoon chai is adrak chai — ginger tea — and it should be made more intensely than the standard daily cup.
The monsoon ratio (per cup):
- 150ml whole milk + 100ml water
- 1.5 tsp strong Assam CTC
- 6 slices of fresh ginger (thicker than usual, bruised hard with the heel of your hand)
- 3 green cardamom pods, cracked
- Jaggery — 1 generous teaspoon
The ginger is bruised rather than grated here because bruising releases the volatile aromatics differently — more rounded, less sharp than grated ginger's more aggressive flavour. In monsoon conditions, rounded warmth is the goal.
Bring the ginger and water to a vigorous boil. Simmer 4 minutes (longer than usual — the extended steep extracts more of the anti-inflammatory compounds). Add milk and cardamom. Bring to the edge of a boil. Add tea. Cover, remove from heat, steep 2 minutes. Strain over jaggery, which dissolves in the cup.
Where to Experience the Monsoon Chai
Every chai-producing region of India becomes more itself during monsoon:
Kerala (June–July): The earliest and heaviest monsoon in India. The rain on the backwaters, the green intensity of the landscape, and a cup of chai at a houseboat's covered deck is a complete sensory experience.
Coorg (Karnataka): The coffee capital of India, but the surrounding hills produce excellent chai during monsoon — the mist and rain make the tea gardens otherworldly.
Varanasi (July–August): Monsoon on the ghats is dramatic — the Ganges swells, the steps disappear, and the chai wallahs who remain set up under makeshift awnings, their steam visible across the water.
Meghalaya (July–August): Cherrapunji and Mawsynram in Meghalaya receive the highest rainfall anywhere on earth. Tea here is drunk continuously, all day, as practical necessity and as the social glue of a community that spends four months of the year under almost continuous rain.
What the Monsoon Does to Tea Gardens
Monsoon is actually the worst period for tea quality — the flush of leaves produced is large but low in complexity. Most of what Assam and Darjeeling produce during monsoon becomes mass-market blended tea or CTC. The premium grades — first flush, second flush — come before the monsoon.
This creates a paradox: the season when chai is most desired is the season when the underlying tea is at its least interesting. The solution, of course, is to make up for it with spice.
“Rain doesn't make chai better. Rain makes you ready for it in a way no other weather does. The chai meets you exactly where you are.
Next month: the chai wallah — the person behind the cup.
Chai piyo, zindagi jiyo.
— Chai Bhai