Bhakti Chai

I had always liked the milky sweet chai during my travels throughout India. I even grew to appreciate the charred milk patch, a silky piece of skin I would slurp with one inhale. But one day I was served something called "special" chai. It wasn't laced with hash, but fiery spices that awoke my mouth and ignited my body with a sudden vitality. As I moved north I learned special was code for masala, which is a blend of spices such as black pepper and ginger. When I returned from India and couldn't find a chai that resembled "special" or masala, I began brewing my own at home in Nederland. My first bottling process began as holiday gifts for friends - mason jars of chai with Kabir poems as labels. Bhakti means devotion through social action. I came to understand this meaning from the Swadhyay movement on the western coast of India - about the same time I became a Masala chai devotee.