It All Started in a Dorm Room: The Story of All About Chai

April 15, 2025

All About Chai wasn't planned.
All we really wanted… was a decent cup of chai.

Back in our college hostel, chai breaks were sacred. No matter how hectic the day, how brutal the exam, or how late the night , chai was that one non-negotiable ritual. A moment of calm. A reason to pause, breathe, and just… exist.

But here’s the twist , our hostel was in the middle of nowhere. Not the kind of place where you could summon lemongrass or ginger with a few taps on Zepto. Getting anything , from fresh tulsi to good chai patta , took effort. And when you're short on time, budget, and basic sanity, you need quick, fuss-free solutions.

Still, we craved good chai. The kind that reminded us of home of moms, grandmoms, or the legendary corner chaiwala who somehow nailed the perfect kadak-patta combo every single time.

So we did what every desperate chai-lover would do ; we started trying all the “masala chai” brands we could find.

Spoiler: it was a whole scam.

Most of them were just black tea dust wearing a fancy label. One day we flipped a packet and read the fine print:
Masala: 4%.
The rest? Just plain black tea.

Let’s do the math:

Regular chai = ₹180/kg
“Masala” chai = ₹300/kg

So you’re paying ₹120 extra… for just 4g of masala per 100g.
That’s ₹3,000/kg for some fancy dust. Bonkers, right?

We weren’t getting flavor.
We weren’t getting value.
And we definitely weren’t getting that warm, fuzzy feeling we missed.

And that’s when it hit us:
Maybe the answer wasn’t in "masala chai"...
Maybe it was just good chai masala.

A Dorm Room, A Dream & Way Too Much Tea

From November to February, I turned my tiny dorm room into a full-blown R&D lab.
I started sourcing spices from local haats, kind aunties, spice vendors anywhere and everywhere. I played with proportions like a mad scientist, ran blind tastings in the hostel, and even mailed DIY chai kits to friends across hostels for feedback.

There were Google Forms, hilarious survey responses, way too many cups of tea, and a few legendary fails too...

But slowly… something beautiful began to brew. Literally.

I realized this wasn’t just about chai. It was about access.
Because let’s face it ,not everyone has fresh ginger or tulsi lying around.
Not everyone has time.
And definitely no one wants to grind spices at 7 a.m. before class or work.

So why not create something that:

Feels homemade
Tastes real
And fits into any lifestyle, whether you're in a PG, a hostel, or a high-rise?

Where We Are Now

That dorm room idea is now All About Chai, a small, homegrown brand with an in-house facility where we blend and pack every jar of chai masala ourselves.

No middlemen.
No sketchy fillers.
Just good ol’ spices ,carefully sourced, hygienically blended, and packed sustainably in glass jars

We’ve crafted blends that actually taste like chai.