Storm in a tea cup at Cha Cha Chai

For each fancy coffee shop in Dubai there are possibly hundreds of small cafeterias selling tea. The choices, though, are limited to just three varieties – masala chai, sulaimani and the tea-bag kind people here call Lipton regardless of the brand.

But now the age-old beverage is gaining ground in the latte-obsessed city in a new avatar, thanks to a chain of dedicated tea outlets called Cha Cha Chai.

Launched by UAE-based building material firm Danube, Cha Cha Chai aims to take tea drinking to a whole new level and you just need to drop by at one of their many outlets in Dubai to see that they are on the right track.

I visited their 2,000 square foot café at Business Village near the Clock Tower in Deira and was immediately impressed. The setting is modern without being pretentious and the menu is replete with not just a wide range of tea infusions, but also a slew of wraps, Indian snacks, sandwiches, salads, frappes and desserts.

“We plan to open 20 outlets in the UAE by 2015 and scores more in the coming years,” confided Danube’s affable marketing head Chanchal Samanta as I ordered a combo of chicken wrap and kadak chai. For Dh18 it is great value for money. I especially liked the kadak chai which has a burst of energising cardamom and is unlike anything I have had before.

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Storm in a tea cup at Cha Cha Chai