The motor of India
You also notice that the content is slightly varying over the country. In Karnataka you need to order ginger tea if you want your chai to be flavoured with ginger. Whereas in Rajasthan it was standard created with ginger. In all cases this is fresh ginger that they will grind at the spot.
The chai is cooked by combining tea, spices and milk and most of the time standard delivered with sugar in it. Sometimes the sweetening is left to you and the sugar is delivered separately.
Normally I drink tea without sugar but for the chai I tried it a couple of times but somehow that doesn't taste that good.
Typically the prize of a cup is around 10 rupees for the size shown in the picture.
During my trip in Rajasthan the project I got was to capture a tea stall by getting in contact and stay for at least an hour at the place. Kishan decided that he would join me whereas the others preferred to test the bed longer that morning. Starting around 7.30 I was out before Kishan the first challenge would be to find a tea stall that we could use.
I was still alone and at 15 metres from the hotel there was a nice tea stall to have the right start by having a cup of chai first. I was busy drinking this when Kishan phoned to ask where I was. Directing him to the place wasn't difficult and somehow we didn't leave before 9.00 anymore as it turned out to be the perfect place for the assignment.
The main players in the tea stall were Beg Singh (the vendor) and his son.
So there are the local people that most likely come here every morning, some of them in traditional dress and some more western.
But back to the chai where the start is shown in the picture above with the customer which is the cooking of the ingredients. It all takes place on the stove.
Enjoying the crowd of the morning I think.