United by tea

In India, tea is never just “tea”. It’s habit, nostalgia, ritual, and geography, all poured into multiple cups. Tea exists in so many variations and binds people in one single thread.

I come from the eastern part of the country, and tea at home means patiently brewing delicate tea leaves sourced from the mecca of tea, Darjeeling. Just water, no milk or sugar, and simply fresh, floral, and smooth. during my travels as a young adult, tea made any other way seemed like blasphemy. But over the years, I have realised that there isn’t one right way to drink the beverage. Technically, yes, experts do suggest that tea shouldn’t be overboiled, but that’s not the point here.

When you travel across the country, you realise that nobody thinks their version of tea is strange because every version belongs somewhere. India, being the second-largest producer of tea with nearly 80% of it being consumed domestically, only proves the point.

In some places, tea means letting the milk rise dramatically in a steel pot as ginger, cardamom, cloves, and sugar bubble away. While in another, like the breathtaking Ladakh, tea is buttery and salty. Down south, strong CTC tea with milk is bold enough to wake up entire mornings. Somewhere else, someone refuses to start their day without adrak wali chai with a side of newspaper and unfinished Sudoku.

Ingredients change, and so do the brewing method, texture, colour, and flavour. But the feeling never really does, does it? Whether it’s carefully brewed and comes with a beautiful golden hue, or aggressively boiled for 15 minutes and has a darker hue, tea holds conversations that extra bit longer. It is what neighbours offer even before they know your name.

Tea is inseparable from train journeys, rainy evenings, and family gossip. Tea is a companion for heartbreak, in celebrations, routines, and I can go on... But what makes tea “tea” in India is that while nobody agrees on the “right” way to make it, the definition remains mostly the same for all - comfort, and a reason to get together and pause. Maybe, that’s exactly what tea is meant to do.