Adrak (Ginger) Chai
The monsoon medicine. One spice, done with total conviction.
Same drink, three depths. Switch anytime — beginner steps assume no scale, barista steps assume no fear.
Adrak chai strips the masala down to one loud, warming voice: fresh ginger, and plenty of it. It is the chai of rainy evenings and blocked noses, and its only real technique is a violence of crushing — grated or pounded ginger, never sliced.
The method · Beginner
Pound the ginger
Grate or crush a thumb of ginger to a rough pulp. Sliced ginger perfumes; crushed ginger commits.
Boil ginger in water
Water and ginger into the pan; boil 2 minutes so the water itself turns gingery before any tea arrives.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeTea in, colour up
Add tea and boil until deep reddish brown.
⏱ 1:30 timer in guided modeMilk, and mind the pot
Add milk and bring to a full rise. Ginger chai foams enthusiastically — stay close.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeSimmer, sweeten, strain
Two more minutes on a simmer, sugar in, strain from height, and hand it to someone with a cold.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeThe method · Enthusiast
Ginger math
8–10 g crushed fresh ginger per cup for a proper hit. Old, fibrous ginger is actually stronger — use a little less.
Long ginger decoction
Boil the ginger in water a full 3 minutes. Gingerol needs time; this is the flavour floor of the whole cup.
⏱ 3:00 timer in guided modeShort tea boil
90 seconds of tea boil, no more — ginger's bite plus tannin astringency stacks fast.
⏱ 1:30 timer in guided modeMilk-split insurance
Very gingery pots can split milk. Bring milk in at a rolling boil and keep the pot moving; if you sweeten with jaggery, do it off the heat.
⏱ 2:30 timer in guided modeFinish with a fresh pinch
A tiny pinch of raw grated ginger in the strainer as you pour adds a bright top note over the cooked base.
The method · Barista
Two-stage ginger
Cooked ginger (decocted 3 min) for warmth, raw ginger (in the strainer at the pour) for volatile brightness. Two extractions, one root.
⏱ 3:00 timer in guided modeTannin ceiling
Keep total tea contact under 3:30. Adrak chai should burn from ginger, not pucker from tea.
⏱ 2:00 timer in guided modeFat carries heat
Full-cream milk at 40 % of volume; the capsaicin-like heat of gingerol is fat-soluble and mellows into warmth instead of sting.
⏱ 2:30 timer in guided modePairing logic
Serve alongside anything fried — the ginger cuts oil like a squeeze of lime. This is why pakora weather is adrak weather.
↑ Level it up
Enthusiasts decoct the ginger a full three minutes and keep the tea boil short. Baristas run two-stage ginger: cooked in the pot, raw in the strainer.
Questions we always get
My milk split when I added the ginger. Help?
Add milk only at a rolling boil, keep it moving, and sweeten off the heat. Very acidic old ginger in cool milk is the classic split.
Dried ginger powder — yes or no?
In an emergency, ¼ tsp saunth works and tastes pleasantly old-fashioned. Fresh is still the recipe.
Brew next
Classic Masala Chai
The one your grandmother measured with her eyes. We wrote it down.
Karak Chai
The Gulf's midnight fuel. Strong, sweet, unapologetic.
Kashmiri Kahwa
Green tea, saffron, and almonds. The valley in a cup.