AoaK, Part III

Chai Connoisseur

[21/2/2011]

Dripping sweat? Have some chai! Just returned from a buffet? Have some chai! Just finished a marathon? Have some chai! Just had some chai? Have some chai!

Welcome to the country that exports the third largest amount of black tea. Although Kenya exports only the best tea they grow, a lot of the leaves that didn't make the cut are pushed onto unsuspecting wazungu. This classic drink, an unfortunate remnant of colonial Kenya, is made by boiling half water/half whole milk in a sufuria, usually over an open fire pit. Dried tea leaves are added with enough sugar to put the Sugar Plum Fairy in cardiac arrest. The tea is strained and best served steaming hot to uncomfortable wazungu  everywhere. Perfect examples of this are after an hour bike ride during the hottest time of day. Or after a home visit in which you are considered rude if you don't finish all five sweet potatoes and ½ kg of ugali. Under these conditions chai is best savored slowly and by the liter. And please! Be free to express when you've had too much because trust me, they'll make more.

Chai is a versatile drink that can be served at any time of day. In the morning it is often taken with bread. At my office it is made around 10 AM, and any meeting is not official without chai. Most Kenyans don't go to sleep unless there is a steaming cup of chai settling in their stomachs. If you're not careful by the end of a typical day in Kenya you can take in enough caffeine to keep you running well into the next.

It is acceptable to serve chai without milk if none can be found, but the server must apologize for the inconvenience. At this point a typical mzungu would state that they don't even care for whole milk anyway, which causes the Kenyan to confirm that wazungu  really are weird people. Joy! I've never been served chai without sugar, which seems to be the staple in Kenya's staple drink. In fact, when people ask for items like drugs to treat their TB, or money to pay for their child's school fees, sugar can generally be found on that list for chai. I've even seen proposals written with money allocated for chai. They sure do love their chai here!

At the beginning of the year when most organizations receive their funds to spend responsibly in the community, sweet sweet chai can be found running through the rivers, offered to anyone who shows up at the appropriate time. By mid-year the chai funds are demolished, leaving office dwellers fondly dreaming of the land of milk and sugar, waiting for next years funds to be approved.

Alas, the chai connoisseur is one aspect of Kenyan culture that I won't miss when I return home. Even as I write this, sweating in the heat of mid-day, I'm being served the perpetually full cup of chai. And what a shame if it mysteriously disappeared out the open window....