💬 Irani chai should be light in colour with malai on top, that's all

Went to a new cafe in Banjara Hills last week. They had Irani chai on the board for 80 rupees. It came out the colour of tea for a truck driver. Dark brown, strong smell, no malai on top at all. I asked the waiter if it was Irani chai. He said yes sir, special, extra strong. I said I didn't order special. He looked at me like I'd insulted his mother. I drank half and left it. 80 rupees gone. Irani chai should be light. A pale orange, close to the colour of a clay pot after rain. The malai sits on top in a thin skin. Without it, you just have tea with milk. I'm not saying dark tea is bad. I'm saying it's a different drink and it needs a different name. My friend says I'm being fussy. He drinks dark chai with 3 sugars and calls it Irani. We've stopped talking about it. The place near my office does it right. 22 rupees, a steel glass, the malai thin as paper. The owner knows I'll take it with an osmania biscuit and a glass of water on the side. I go there at 4 and the same 5 men are always at the same table reading the same newspaper. Nobody has touched that newspaper for 2 hours. I'd like to think that's what the tea does to you. I took my cousin there last week, the one from Chennai. He asked for coffee and I stared at him. The owner said they do coffee too, 30 rupees. My cousin drank it and said it was the best he'd had. I said nothing. I was busy with my tea, and I'm not commenting on his taste again. My glass was hot and the malai was perfect that day. Sometimes the cup just comes out right.

I get the malai point, though I think the colour depends on who is making it that day. The old cafe near my house does a darker cup in the morning and a lighter one by evening. I think the pot just sits longer, so it changes. Nobody there would call either one wrong. Still, 80 rupees for truck driver tea is a lot, and I'd have left it too.

I disagree a little, I like mine slightly darker than what you are describing, with the malai still there but a stronger tea taste underneath it.