Debonair – Masala Chai
The tea snob in me likes that this blend of Assam tea, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and red peppercorns from Debonair Tea Company is called ‘Masala Chai’. I dislike the trend of teamongers referring to tea and spice blends simply as ‘Chai’. Chai just means ‘tea’! If you mean a specific type of tea, you need to say so. Which happily, Debonair have.
(Even worse is when companies like Pukka call something ‘Chai’ and then fail to put any tea in it whatsoever. Somebody should throw a bound copy of the Trades Descriptions Act at them.)
This thought made me realise that I’m not entirely sure what ‘Masala’ means. I mean, it pops up in all kinds of places. Masala Chai, Garam Masala, the classic British dish, Chicken Tikka Masala. What do all these things have in common apart from their obvious spiciness?
Oh. It turns out that ‘spiciness’ is indeed the whole answer. ‘Masala’ just means ‘spice mix’. That makes sense. It explains why there isn’t a common set of ingredients in Masala Chais.
Masala also, by extension, means a mix of stuff. So, you get Masala Films, which are Indian movies which combine a bunch of different genres. And not spicy in the sense of being salacious or improper, which would have been my first thought.
(You also get Marsala wine, but that’s got an ‘r’ in it and is an entirely different kettle of ball games.)
So, what, you may ask, of the spice blend in Debonair Masala Chai? How does that all pan out?
Well, it’s marvellous. I’m a big fan of spicy black tea blends, and Debonair’s efforts do the genre proud. The red peppercorns are an excellent addition to the mix. My regular Masala Chai tea from Tea India contains black pepper, but a lot of Masala Chai blends omit the whole Piperaceae family from their brews. They’re missing a trick. A bit of pepper elevates the whole experience, in my opinion.
The base Assam is nice and hearty and can handle all the spicy business going on. The stalwart ginger, cardamom and cinnamon are all playing their parts nicely, with nobody trying to upstage anyone else. Other teamongers sometimes use cloves, anise or vanilla in their Masala Chai blends, but their absence isn’t keenly felt here. We’ve got everything we need.
Debonair Masala Chai is so good, in fact, that it has entirely tempered my disappointment that ‘Masala’ didn’t turn out to be a spice-bending town in India or the name of an exalted Delhi dignitary.
Today’s featured book is Raffles by E W Hornung because the eponymous gentleman thief is a debonair fellow.
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