Eight things that turn water and milk into chai. What each one does, why it matters, and what to use instead when you don't have it.
A chai stall is one of the most efficient pieces of food infrastructure ever built. Shantanu's stall in Pune is maybe two metres wide. From it, he serves a hundred cups a day. The whole kit fits on a small shelf. Nothing is wasted, nothing is extra.
You don't need any of this to make good chai at home. A saucepan, a fork, a sieve, and a small glass will do. But knowing what each tool does, and why generations of chai walas reached for it, makes a real difference to how your home brew turns out. Tools are arguments. They're an accumulated case for one technique over another.
tool 01 · the pot
kadhai
कढ़ाई
A small, deep, wide-mouthed pot. Two small ear-handles on the sides. Used for almost every cooked dish in an Indian kitchen, but the chai version is squat and small (about a litre capacity).
The wide mouth matters. It lets the liquid surface area expand fast when chai rises during the boil-and-reduce. Without it, the chai boils over. The thick base spreads heat evenly so the milk doesn't scorch on the bottom.
made fromiron, brass, aluminium, or stainless steel. Iron and brass are traditional and develop a patina with use.
size for home1 to 1.5 litres is right for 2-4 cups. Bigger than that and the chai cooks unevenly.
no kadhai? use thisany small saucepan will work. A wide, low one is better than a tall, narrow one. Aim for at least 50% headspace above your liquid level so the chai doesn't boil over.
tool 02 · the strainer
chalni
चलनी
A small fine-mesh strainer, usually with a long handle. Sometimes shallow and round (the classic chai chalni). Sometimes a small sieve with an even finer mesh.
This is what catches the tea leaves, ginger pieces, cardamom pods and other whole spices as you pour the chai out of the kadhai into the glass. The pour itself happens through the chalni, from a height of about six inches. The chalni is what makes the pour possible.
made fromwire mesh (steel) stretched across a round metal rim with a long handle.
mesh sizefine enough to catch CTC tea granules. If your strainer leaks dust, it's too coarse.
no chalni? use thisa standard fine-mesh kitchen sieve works. Or even a piece of clean muslin cloth stretched across a cup. Avoid coffee filters, they slow the pour too much.
tool 03 · the crusher
kharal / okhli
खरल · ओखली
A small mortar and pestle. Heavy stone or brass on a stall, lighter cast iron or marble in a home kitchen. Used for crushing whole spices (cardamom pods, ginger, cloves, peppercorns) into the broken state that releases their oils into the chai.
The broken, not powdered distinction is the entire reason this tool exists. A coffee grinder pulverises spices into dust, which oxidises within minutes and turns bitter in the brew. A mortar smashes them open. The spices stay coarse, the oils stay alive, the chai stays bright. This is the single most underrated tool in the chai kit.
materialstone, marble, brass or cast iron all work. Heavier is better, since gravity does the work.
sizesmall (8-10cm bowl) is right. Spice-grinding mortar, not a salsa-making mortar.
no mortar? use thisthe flat side of a kitchen knife pressed firmly against the spice on a chopping board. Crush ginger, smash cardamom open, crack peppercorns. Avoid grinding to powder.
tool 04 · the cup
chai glass
चाय का ग्लास
A small, clear, slightly tapered tumbler. Usually about 100-150ml for a "full" chai. About 70ml for a Mumbai-style cutting chai. Almost never has a handle.
The clarity matters. You can see the chai darken through the rises, see the layer of foam, watch the spices settle at the bottom. The small size means you finish before it goes lukewarm, and you take a refill if you want more. A mug is not a chai glass. A mug holds too much, the chai cools while you drink, the experience flattens.
typical size100-150ml for a normal cup, 70ml for cutting chai.
shapeslightly tapered (wider at top than bottom) is classic. Heat-resistant clear glass.
no chai glass? use thisany small clear heat-resistant glass works. An espresso cup is the closest size. If you must use a mug, only fill it halfway.
tool 05 · the clay cup
kulhad / bhar
कुल्हड़ · भाँड़
A small unglazed clay cup, thrown on a potter's wheel, dried in the sun, sometimes fired. Used once, then smashed and returned to the earth. Common across northern India, especially in railway stations and old chai stalls.
The clay imparts a faint earthy taste to the chai. The unglazed surface absorbs a tiny amount of the liquid into its pores, which then evaporates slightly through the wall and cools the chai's outer layer. The drink stays warm at the centre and cool at the lip. Zero waste, full flavour, an ecosystem in a cup.
materialunglazed terracotta, hand-thrown, sometimes fired in low-temperature kilns.
used forone serving, then smashed. Compostable. Common across north and east India.
no kulhad? use thisa small unglazed terracotta pot from a garden centre works (rinse well first). Or just use your normal chai glass. The earthy note is the bonus, not the requirement.
tool 06 · the heat
sigri / chulha
सिगड़ी · चूल्हा
A stove. Historically sigris burned coal, charcoal, or kerosene. Most stalls today have moved to gas (LPG) chulhas, which give faster, cleaner, more controllable heat. Shantanu uses a small gas burner, like most modern chai walas.
What matters is flame control. The boil-and-reduce technique needs you to bring the chai up to a boil, then drop the heat fast, then bring it back. A burner with a sticky valve makes this almost impossible. A modern induction or gas hob at home is fine. An electric coil is too slow to respond.
at the stallsmall portable LPG burner, easy to light, sits at countertop height.
at homeany responsive flame works. Gas is ideal. Induction is fine. Avoid old electric coils.
no fast burner? thisjust move the kadhai off the flame to drop the heat, instead of trying to adjust the burner. Crude but effective. Three rises, three off-and-on moves.
tool 07 · the spice box
masala dabba
मसाला डब्बा
A round metal container with seven small bowls inside, sometimes covered by a single glass or metal lid. Found in nearly every Indian kitchen. Holds the daily-use spices in arm's reach of the stove. The chai-stall version is smaller and lives on a shelf above the burner.
The point isn't storage. It's access. Open the lid, see all your spices at once, pinch what you need, close. Compared to digging through a cupboard of jars, this is a 10x speed-up. A chai wala brewing fifty cups a day cannot afford the friction of jars.
typical contentsturmeric, chili powder, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds, salt, and a household chai-masala blend.
for chai specificallya smaller version with cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon sticks, peppercorns, fennel, and ground ginger.
no dabba? use thisa small tray with little glass jars works. Anything that lets you see and reach all your spices in one motion. Friction is the enemy.
tool 08 · the ladle
karchhi
कड़छी
A long-handled ladle, usually steel, occasionally brass. Used to scoop chai out of the kadhai for tasting, for the "pulling" technique (lifting chai high and pouring back), and for the final transfer into the chalni for straining.
The long handle matters because the kadhai sits on a high flame, the chai is at a rolling boil, and the steam is significant. A short-handled spoon will burn your fingers. The shallow bowl is for the pull, where you lift chai from one container to another to aerate it.
lengthhandle should be at least 20cm to keep your hand away from the steam.
bowlshallow, holds about 50ml. Wide enough to pour cleanly into another vessel.
no karchhi? use thisany soup ladle works. A coffee dipper. Even a small heat-resistant cup with a handle. The key thing is keeping your hand away from the steam.
the complete kit, ranked
If you're starting from zero and want to make chai at home the way a chai wala would, here's the order I'd buy in:
Essential. A small saucepan or kadhai (any), a fine-mesh sieve or chalni, and a small clear glass. With just these three, you can make excellent chai.
Worth the upgrade. A small mortar and pestle. Even a cheap one from a kitchen store. The difference between crushed and powdered spices is the difference between bright and bitter.
Lovely additions. A masala dabba for spice access. A long-handled ladle for safety and showmanship. A kulhad if you can find one (some Indian grocery stores stock them seasonally).
Don't bother. Electric chai makers, single-button machines, capsule systems. They will reliably produce a worse cup than your saucepan. The technique is the recipe.
how shantanu does it · pune, every morning
seven tools, hundreds of cups
At Shantanu's stall in Pune, the kit is small. A single LPG burner. One medium kadhai. One chalni. A wooden ladle. A small mortar. A masala tin above the stove. A row of glasses, washed and stacked at the back of the counter. Nothing else. He brews well over a hundred cups a day with this setup.
When you watch him work, what you notice is that the tools are arranged for sequence: spices crushed and dropped, water in, milk in, sugar in, ladle in, strainer out, glass under. The hand never reaches across itself. Years of doing it this way, every day, have made the kit minimum-viable in the truest sense.