Cutting Chai
Half a glass, full velocity. Mumbai's ninety-second ritual.
Same drink, three depths. Switch anytime — beginner steps assume no scale, barista steps assume no fear.
"Cutting" is half a glass of strong, sweet, fast chai — the unit of currency of Mumbai's streets. It is chai reduced to its essentials and boiled with a confidence most home cooks never dare. The small glass is the point: hot to the last sip, cheap enough to repeat.
The method · Beginner
One spice, crushed
Cutting chai is not masala chai — pick ginger or cardamom, not both, and crush it into the water.
Boil everything hard
Water, spice, tea, and sugar together at a fearless boil. Street chai is boiled, not steeped — that is the flavour.
⏱ 2:30 timer in guided modeMilk into the storm
Add milk at the boil and let the pot rise fully once, twice. Do not lower the heat between rises; just lift the pot off for a beat.
⏱ 2:30 timer in guided modeStrain from height
Strain into small glasses from as high as you dare. Serve half-full: refills are the culture.
The method · Enthusiast
Tea-forward ratio
60 % water to 40 % milk, 1.5 tsp CTC per small glass. Cutting chai is stronger and less milky than home chai — the milk seasons, it does not soften.
Sugar in the boil
Sugar cooks with the tea from the start, tempering the deliberate over-extraction the same way karak does.
⏱ 2:30 timer in guided modeRolling rises
Two to three full rises with the pot lifted, not the flame lowered. Speed and violence are the technique.
⏱ 2:30 timer in guided modeThe pour is the finish
A high strain aerates and cools it to street temperature. Glass, not mug — the burn on the fingertips is part of the interface.
The method · Barista
The economics of strength
Street stalls run ~4 g CTC per 100 ml at 8–10 % sugar, boiled 4+ minutes — maximum extraction per gram of tea. Recreate the spec, keep the fearlessness.
⏱ 4:00 timer in guided modeContinuous-pot logic
Stalls keep one pot evolving all day, topping up tea, water and milk. At home, a second batch in the same unwashed pot genuinely tastes more like the street.
Glass thermodynamics
A 100 ml glass at 75 °C finishes hot; a 250 ml mug finishes lukewarm. Cutting chai solved serving temperature by shrinking the serving.
Menu translation
On our counter this becomes the espresso of chai: small, fast, standing-room. Priced to repeat.
↑ Level it up
Enthusiasts keep the ratio tea-forward and let the pot rise fully two or three times. Baristas study the street stall: one pot, all day, maximum extraction per gram — chai as an economics lesson.
Questions we always get
Why "cutting"?
One full glass "cut" in half — half the price, twice the visits. The word became the unit: "ek cutting" is a complete sentence in Mumbai.
Isn't boiling tea that hard wrong?
For delicate teas, yes. CTC is engineered to be boiled — sugar and milk are the counterweights. Different tea, different rules.
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.
Adrak (Ginger) Chai
The monsoon medicine. One spice, done with total conviction.