STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 37 This technique also enabled people to add far more milk than the British preferred, sometimes more than 50% of the concoction. Later, people began to stir in a range of spices – ginger root, crushed green cardamom, cloves, etc. In an attempt to maximize flavor extraction, tea leaf fragments and dust became the preference, which never used to fetch much at the auctions. Thus, the immensely popular beverage known as Indian masala chai was born. Evolution of Chai Post-Independence and the Advent of CTC "Today, India is predominantly a black tea producer," explains Ashok. "We started with producing orthodox, but those volumes have been reduced. Now India mostly produces black tea, CTC, and some green tea from specialty growers. At Balanoor, we used to produce both orthodox and CTC tea, but now we primarily produce only CTC, while orthodox is only on request." CTC stands for crush, tear, curl – a black tea processing method that in- volves running black tea leaves through a series of cylindrical rollers. The rollers have sharp teeth that crush, tear, and curl the leaves. The process was invented in the 1930s by Sir William McKercher in Assam, India. But McKercher's machines were expensive, cumbersome, and prone to breakdowns. In the late 1950s, Indian engineers in then Calcutta (now Kolkata) redesigned these machines, creating the "Sliding block CTC machines" that were easier to clean and their rollers were easier to sharpen. Though patented by the Small Tools Manufacturing Company, the machines were widely pirated from the 1960s to the 80s. This completely trans- formed the Indian tea industry. One of the biggest advantages of the CTC process was the dramatic reduc- tion of the per-unit price of chai, which industry professionals call the cuppage. From 250-300, the cuppage went up to 400-600 cups per kilo of dry tea, which drove the massive growth in chai con- sumption in India. "Tea is one of the cheapest bever- ages you can drink in India," says Ashok. "Sometimes the milk and sugar in the cup of chai would be bigger costs than the tea in it! It is an essential drink for most of the country." "In post-independence India, while coffee was and still is regarded as an elite drink, tea is the more accepted and accessible drink for the masses," adds Dr. Dalal. Chai Tea Latte and Beyond In the 1990s, Starbucks created its spin on the traditional Indian masala chai, naming it the chai latte. The massive pop- ularity of the Starbucks chai latte inspired countless other coffee chains worldwide to do the same. In 2023, the chai tea market was valued at $55 billion and is expected to reach $91 billion by 2030 ac- cording to Verified Market Reports. The British introduced tea drinking to the Indians, who fashioned it for their unique palettes and built something fla- vorful, which was then embraced by the world. Today, the sweet, humble chai has fans everywhere and each delicious cup tells a story that spans continents and generations. The advent of crush, tear, curl (CTC) machines transformed the Indian tea industry from orthodox black tea makers to predominantly CTC producers. Photo courtesy Bhavi Patel A worker stirring the leaves in a withering trough at the Balanoor Tea factory. Photo courtesy Balanoor Plantation

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