The redundancy of "Chai Tea" (Masala Chai)
We’ve all said it, “chai tea” — the greatest redundancy in the world of tea. In the Hindi language, “chai” means “tea”, so saying “chai tea” is the same as saying “tea tea.” Just think about that the next time you are in a coffeeshop and hear someone order a “chai tea latte” — whatever that is. Granted the popularized form of “chai tea” in America is syrup or powder based anyway – so calling what most drink in America “masala chai” would be a bastardization. Masala refers to a mixture of spices; in masala chai, usually cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and black pepper. Thus “masala chai” means “spice tea.” While on the subject of masala chai, here are some guidelines to make great masala chai from loose leaf:
1. Prepare a 3:1 mixture of milk to water (some recipes call for a 1:1 ratio).
2. Add masala chai to the mixture and heat for 15 minutes.
3. Add sugar to taste, start with adding 1.5 teaspoons for each cup of liquid used.
This entry was posted on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 8:50 pm and is filed under Tea Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Tony Gebely
Tony is co-owner of Chicago Tea Garden and tweets as @WorldofTea. He has been a tea drinker for nearly ten years and has traveled to tea producing regions throughout Asia.
This has nothing to do with the redundancy issue, but that cup is cute, anybody know where to find one like it? Or is this just a random stock photo?
I found these in Mumbai at a small bookstore. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find them here in the states.
My understanding is that the name Chai came from a port in China where tea was exported. There was the Port of Chai and the Port of Tea. Hence the two names.
Eurgh, I hate Starbucks-ised chai. I made the mistake of ordering it once, thinking that it might be proper chai. Never again! Much better to make at home, with good quality loose leaf tea and the spices of your choice. I have some pictures of making chai on my blog, if you are interested: http://mangosoup.blogspot.com/2009/08/masala-chai.html
Must be an American phenomenon, I’ve never heard it in England or Sweden. Especially not in England where the word “cha” is common slang for tea anyway.
And in Sweden, chai is chai and everyone who drinks it knows what it is; so no-one would ask for chai té (Swedish for tea).
On the actual substance itself, all these syrup chais are awful in my opinion. The only good cups of chai I’ve ever had have been in Indian restaurants.
Thank you, Tony! It bothers me so much when people ask for Chai Tea or say they have to go to the ATM machine, or better yet, PIN number. I was going to talk about this in episode 7 of my show. Thanks for clearing it up for people. I’ll have to reference you! Technically, this sort of redundancy is referred to as a pleonasm–i.e., using more words than necessary to express an idea. It is more specifically and ironically referred to as RAS (Redundant Acronym Syndrome) syndrome. Clever. Thanks again!