A colleague and me were travelling in a taxi, heading to Lonavala from Mumbai for a corporate training program. It was the first time we were meeting, though we have spoken over phone on several occasions in the course of work. She was a Chartered Accountant hailing from Lucknow, presently settled in Mumbai and I was travelling from Kerala; flew to Mumbai that morning and we were scheduled to travel together to Lonavala. In order to while away the time and out of politeness, she initiated a series of questions to know more about me. Her first question was simple,

“ Tea or coffee ? ”

“ Tea ”, I replied

She looked lost for a nano second as if trying to realign the answers to the match the following questions.

“ But your filter coffee is so famous. All south Indians drink filter coffee …” she said with a quizzical expression

“ I like tea more, coffee is only a second option, if tea is not avaliable” I replied.

“ So, you are a tea drinking South Indian ” she smiled.

I smiled too and added “ An anomaly to the South Indian stereotype I guess ”.

This anomaly became a celebration when I wandered into Chai Point, a tea parlour in Bengaluru. “ India runs on chai ” reads their tagline and I am only happy to fit into this genre. I have seen coffee parlours like the popular Cafe Coffee Day and the relatively new Starbucks, but Chai Point was a discovery in Bengaluru.

The ginger tea from Chai Point is my favourite and whatever maybe the state of mind, this ginger infused concoction helps calm the mind and brings a feeling of restfulness to the body. Such is the impact of tea. Coffee lovers may have similar experiences with their favourite brew. Tea time however is not complete without a bite to eat and Chai Point has all the perfect accompaniments for the tea time cravings – samosas, puffs, biscuits, sandwiches and many more.

A must try is their banana cake. Though one slice is filling; if you share a slice, it somehow seems more sweet and satisfying. I have tried the banana cake both ways and can definitely vouch for the latter. Try it and see for yourself !!

If  your day beings with a cup of tea, then it is worthwhile to buy their tea leaf packets. I accepted one packet of their Premium Assam Tea with much scepticism, confident that nothing will be better than my Brook Bond Red Label Tea and have never been so wrong. I have not gone back to the regular tea in supermarkets  and now am a Chai Point convert !!