The secret to making the perfect cup of chai, a roadside vendor in India once told me, is to strain the tea with a used men's undershirt. The ribs on the fabric, he explained, create the perfect filter—especially if the undershirt has been broken in due to many wears. I nodded in agreement and complimented him on his chai, but the real reason I went to his stand was that he was a notorious gossip, and as a reporter covering the elections in India, drinking chai soaked in undergarments was a small price to pay for figuring out which mafia don was trying to buy which politician.
So when we talk about where to find the best chai, we are often not talking about what's served in the cup itself. Our perception of what constitutes the best chai is wrapped up in our ideas of its ingredients, where we believe it originates from, and how it should be consumed. I grew up in California drinking chai three times a day and have fond memories of my parents, both Indians born and raised in Tanzania, pouring tea into a saucer to explain that chai, like the US system of checks and balances, works best when spread and shared—a good lesson to heed, I should think, for our new president.
Portland, thankfully, offers a wide range of chai to sample, and I spent the past few weekends crisscrossing the city sampling over a dozen places. At the outset, let's retire the boring question of who makes the most authentic form of chai. Chai varies from country to country and it's absurd to think there can only be one type. In India alone, for example, chai in the North is often pinkish and salty, with pistachios sprinkled on top, whereas in western India, where I lived, chai is so sugary you can barely taste anything else.
One of the exciting things about Portland is how many different takes on chai you can find. A good place to start is Pip's Original Doughnuts and Chai (4759 NE Fremont). For $12.95 you can order a flight of chai served on a beautiful wooden tray with five varieties to sample. My partner liked the Smoky Robinson, a smoked chai with vanilla and clove, but I preferred the Emmylou, a white colored chai made with lavender, chrysanthemum, chamomile, and raw honey.