SAMOVAR - IT'S THE SECRET TO KASHMIR'S SPECIAL TEA

  

 

Noon chai, also called sheer chai, gulabi chai, Kashmiri tea, or pink tea, is a traditional tea beverage, originating from the Indian subcontinent, most probably from the Kashmir Valley, made with gunpowder tea, milk, and baking soda. Chai is an easy-to-make beverage that is liked by people all over the world.

Often called Pink Tea, Kashmiri chai is a milk tea characterized by its dusty pink color and garnishing of crushed nuts. It's brewed with green tea leaves and baking soda, and then mixed with milk to give it a distinct pink color.

It is made traditionally in 'Samovar' - a brass/copper kettle which has a central cavity into which you are supposed to put burning coals. Some space is left for the ingredients to warm up in the vessel and there is a nozzle to pour out the tea.

 Samovars, common household name in Kashmir is a traditional kettle used to brew, boil and serve tea & Kehwa.

A samovar is a traditional Kashmiri kettle used to brew, boil and serve Kashmiri salted tea (Noon Chai) and kahwa. Kashmiri samovars are made of copper with engraved or embossed calligraphic motifs. … Inside a samovar there is a fire-container in which charcoal and live coals are placed.

 Inside the samovar, there is a tube shaped fire- container in which charcoal is stored. The charcoal is burned in the container or live coal is used to provide constant heat to the tea stored in a space around this fire-container.

The Samovar was used to boil the water to prepare tea. Other Persian and Turkish variants of the Samovars existed as well and it is with the passage of time that this savoir-faire reached the mountainous terrain of Kashmir during the time of Hazrat Shahi Hamadan, five centuries ago.

That’s the story of Kashmir’s special tea and about Samovar in which it is made.