Hyderabad: If there is one thing that almost every Hyderabadi swears by and bonds over, it is Irani Chai. We have it in our blood, and scores of cafes, big and small, serve thousands of cups of the delectable tea everyday. Be it Grand Hotel, Garden Restaurant or the now chain of Niloufer Cafes, Irani Chai drinking culture is deeply embedded in the ethos of Hyderabad.
But Alas, nothing lasts forever. Irani Chai, as dear as it is to us, is also not what it used to be. Normally in other cities a core cultural landmark thing like Irani Chai in Hyderabad would not change. The tea today is sweet beyond redemption and tastes more like dessert. In fact, the owner of Grand Hotel, where they have thankfully kept the Chai close to the original, calls the Irani Chai of today a ‘delicious drink’, but not chai.
And in spite of its popularity, Irani Chai today has fundamentally strayed from what it used to be maybe even from a few decades ago. Obviously, I don’t know what it used to taste before I was born 35 years ago, but I can definitely now say that it has metamorphosed into an entirely different creation where the tea tastes more like lightly flavoured milk.
This might sound like a rant, but last month the launch of a massive new outlet for Irani Chai by a well-known brand in Hyderabad honestly stumped me in terms of how culturally the fundamental idea of drinking chai at a local Irani outlet has now changed. I remember how as a child all way up to my adulthood, going to an Irani cafe was part of my everyday routine.
You could be the fanciest person in town, but that would not stop you or anyone else from still going to a regular Irani cafe just for a cup of tea. However, lot of things have changed over the years. People are now busier, the cafes are now no more hubs of discussion, let alone intellectual discussions. Now it’s just a matter of quick sips and with biscuits and that’s that.
Irani Chai – too sweet for comfort
“The tea should actually give you a small kick of the flavour,” is what the owner of Grand Hotel, Jaleel Farookh Rooz, one told me. That actually stuck in my head that it has now become the standard for me to judge chai at any Irani cafe. Among the numerous conversations I have had with people and cafe owners themselves, it isn’t the tea itself per se, but the idea of fraternity that has kept people bound in a way.
Apparently, the noted painter MF Hussain would sit and work at the Garden Restaurant, believed to be one of his favourite joints. Honestly, I can’t really imagine any genius painting in any Irani cafe today because they would go mad with all the noise. Noise is also one reason why I would go to Irani cafes early mornings.
But what actually has peeved me today is that the tea in Hyderabad, thanks to a few popular joints, has forced almost every cafe to add some condensed milk while boiling the milk to make Irani Chai sweeter. People seem to love it, but that has also made it more of a dessert than anything else. That itself is why today’s generation will mostly not even know what the original Irani Chai tasted like. Nor will they know what Irani cafes once stood for.
