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Emilly Prado
Emilly Prado is a writer, award-winning journalist and consultant living in Portland. Read More
Chai in Portland
Whether you prefer a spicy or sweet flavor, iced chai, or a mild, subtly steeped take, we’ve searched the city far and wide to help you find your next favorite chai.
Emilly Prado
Emilly Prado is a writer, award-winning journalist and consultant living in Portland. Read More
A batch of chai is a bit like playing cards — every house has its own rules, its own set of joyous expectations. In Portland, the chai scene is as vibrant as the coffee shop scene, but the recipe variation makes the journey to finding your favorite cup extra fun. These aren’t ranked because chai preferences are personal, but they have been categorized by types of chai enthusiasts.
Chai is deeply nostalgic for me, and the breadth of recipes reminds me of the breadth of mole flavors in Mexico, where my family is from. Whenever possible, I ordered whole milk (with a side of Lactaid) to keep my research as controlled as possible, although a few stops only offered oat milk, and my editor did not request this scientific step. Nonetheless, please explore my findings as an invitation to take your own tasting notes and read on to see what kind of chai we recommend for you.
Find Chai in Portland
Your next favorite recipe could be right around the corner.
An Introduction to Chai
What is chai?
Today, chai recipes vary by region and personal taste, with some states and households preferring no spices at all, steeping the tea in milk directly, or even using green or rooibos teas instead of the traditional Assam tea. While “chai” simply means “tea,” it has become a synonymous shorthand for “masala chai,” which roughly translates to “mixed tea” and typically refers to a spiced variety. “Chai tea” is a redundancy in language, but we won’t judge you if you slip up while sipping.
Where is chai from?
The origins of chai date back thousands of years; most estimates range from 5,000 and 9,000 years ago in Southeast and South Asia. Although the record is a bit murky, what isn’t is the drink’s long-standing beginnings as an Aryuvedic caffeine-free drink consumed for medicinal purposes. Despite the proliferation of tea plants in eastern India, tea drinking wasn’t widespread until British colonization aggressively led campaigns created to increase tea consumption across the country. As the price of tea was high, street vendors (chai wallahs) mixed in large amounts of milk and sugar to lower overhead, developing a distinctly sweet, Indian style of brewing tea.
Does chai contain caffeine?
How can I make chai at home?
How to Drink Chai in Portland
It’s hip to approach chai with the zeal of a wine enthusiast because it’s a similarly invigorating sensory experience best enjoyed by diligent appreciation. The drink urges you to consider what you like about chai. I suggest a healthy stack of Parle G biscuits or a little snack to nosh on and cleanse the palette between chais.
For the Traditionalists
Located near the Portland State University campus, Old Taste of India is a no-frills food cart with an excellent rotation of affordable daily lunch specials. In addition to classic dishes like saag paneer, lamb biryani and crispy samosas, the steaming cups of chai come in generous 8-ounce servings for a mere $2. This chai is sweet and decently spiced, albeit milder and thicker than some others.
Meanwhile, Tao of Tea on SE Belmont offers your choice of milk (whole, oat, soy or coconut) and sweeteners (raw honey, turbinado and, most excitingly, jaggery, a dark brown sugar made from palm sap commonly used to sweeten chai in India). I tried a freshly brewed 500 Mile Chai blend (with jaggery and whole milk, for science), which was an unsurprisingly tea-forward take on chai with a delicious, prominent blend of organic spices like ginger, clove, cardamom and fennel. Sip your teapot in style at Portland’s oldest teahouse — founded in 1997 — and share the mooncake or candied mango slices with a friend. Be sure to stop by the neighboring tea room and stock up on your new favorite blend.
For the Newbies
Portal Tea Company, formerly known as Tea Chai Té, is a beloved go-to for tea drinkers, boasting an astounding 120+ tea blends, all available in-store. The chai varieties are numerous, offered in steeped tea (black, green, rooibos) and concentrate varieties, with a variety of milk. We visited the adorable Sellwood location housed in a bright red caboose and found the Kashmiri and Masala chai similarly palatable and subtle. Portal is an excellent choice for a newbie chai drinker interested in dipping just a toe into the milky waters.
Credit: Emilly Prado
For the Adventurers
As a self-designated purist-adventurer, I was hesitant but intrigued by the promise of a Moroccan twist on chai at Ovation Coffee & Tea. The result was better than I could have imagined and rightfully earned it a spot as the only chai latte on this list. While it’s decidedly sweet, this chai manages to maintain its sweetness without being overwhelmingly syrupy, thanks in part to the nice thick foam that counterbalances the sprinkle of sugar used to finish the drink. Drink past the milky foam and revel in a spectrum of spices, including cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, anise, sassafras and white pepper.
Credit: Emilly Prado
Pip’s Original Doughnuts & Chai calls itself the “World’s First Doughnut & Chai Shop” — lucky for Portland, it’s located in the heart of the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood. While the miniature doughnuts are certainly all the rage, the dine-in-only chai flight is a one-of-a-kind experience and can quickly turn anyone into a chai connoisseur. The flight includes all six distinct house blends, which are prepared in small batches weekly and available in a variety of milk options. While the flavors are non-traditional, that’s part of the appeal — where else can you get a caramel-y chai that tastes like a ginger snap cookie (the Ginger) or a tropical turmeric and coconut blend that tastes like a vacation (the Heart)? Local tip: Plan your visit mid-week to avoid the lines that often wrap around the block on weekends.
This delectably bright and fragrant chai is subtly sweet and silky smooth despite the occasional starchiness of oat milk.
For the Vegans
Numerous businesses in this guide make their chai from concentrates, so they can make their drinks vegan with steamed plant-based milks. As for vegan versions, the cozy family-owned Maruti Indian may have been my favorite across the board. This delectably bright and fragrant chai is subtly sweet and silky smooth despite the occasional starchiness of oat milk. But what makes this spice blend so unexpected is the inclusion of lemongrass, which adds floral and citrusy notes that make this tea taste more savory than spicy.
The result is the perfect pairing for a meal, which is fortuitous because the menu at Maruti is entirely vegetarian and entirely tasty. Try the tikka masala with a side of khichadi daal made with yellow split lentils and soothing coconut, ginger and cilantro. Be advised: The “dirty chai” here doesn’t mean the espresso-spiked chai latte typically found at coffee shops but is rather a warming concoction of the house chai, a Portland-made chai cocktail syrup and brandy.
5 to Try
Just because I was too full to keep drinking chai doesn’t mean you should miss out on even more chai options in Portland.
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