Be it winter or summer, it can be foggy, windy, cold, and even rainy – the unpredictable weather of the San Francisco Bay Area fluctuates almost daily. Snowy, slippery, and bleak characterises months of blowy fall and frosty winters in New York. Across both coasts and many regions in between, as the pandemic subsides and an increasing number of people return to offices, Indian American working professionals are re-awakening to the acute need and lack of easily available desi chai and desi coffee.
Burnt by the ‘watery, over-roasted, bitter coffee’, and ‘dip-dip teabag chai’ at regular American coffee chains/joints, immigrants from South Asia drive, often many miles, from their places of work to get a masala chai or South Indian filter coffee from desi restaurants.
Their warm and plush offices are luring them back to in-person workdays with gourmet/delectable lunches and freebies, but still offer only basic office coffee machines and staple tea bags for caffeine options.
“At work we don’t get apni chai. I would carry some masala tea bags, dip one in hot water and try to drink that, but it’s not the same thing,” says Sonia a senior finance executive. The San Francisco Bay Area resident adds, “Especially for Indians, chai is the cure for every issue, whether you didn’t sleep well, feeling sick, you are cold, or are stressed – chai is the solution.”
Even the popular Chai Tea Latte at America’s largest coffee chain Starbucks is not a desi’s cup of tea. “Ye log cinnamon bahut daal dete hain! (They put a lot of cinnamon!) It should be authentic – just adrak chai,” suggests Sonia.
Indian Americans Are Excited About the New CEO
Indian Americans are not only the fastest growing immigrant population for the last two decades, but also enjoy a strong purchasing potential, making some believe that now is the right time for some new brews in American coffee chains. As Laxman Narasimhan readies to take over as the next CEO of Starbucks, caffeinated chatter in desi social spaces is boiling over.
A San Jose-based entrepreneur, Pawan Singh, says, “There is a huge difference between Chai Tea Latte and desi chai. Ek cutting chai to hona hi chahiye. (There should at least be cutting chai.) South Asian Americans – Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepali, Sri Lankan – all love desi chai. Starbucks’ served available market will shoot up, almost double up their sales in the community if they start serving it.”
Indian Americans are chuffed that one more of their own will lead another prominent company, this one as quintessentially American as it gets. “Top executives leading global brands, I am thrilled that so much Indian talent from India is being tapped. The leadership style has influences of traditional values of respect, humility, and work ethic with which we are raised, and that seems to resonate with the millennials. It’s almost a servant-leadership-style – serve your staff, serve your customers,” says Usha, a techie from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Even though Starbucks regulars like Usha’s husband Rajesh, a software entrepreneur, frequent the chain’s cafes because of "assured predictability of knowing what one is getting," other Indian Americans wish that ‘serve your customers’ mantra might bring desi concoctions to Starbucks. Usha’s 82 years old mother loves Starbuck’s Chai Tea Latte – a little treat she relishes once in a while – but the coffee chain is not where they go for their regular coffee, says Usha, “I go there sometimes to get a cappuccino, but we make coffee at home. If they served South Indian Filter Coffee, I would certainly try it.” She adds, “Coffee drinkers can be very religious about how they drink their coffee!”
Fremont resident, also a technology executive Lakshminarayan Sivaramakrishnan’s daily home brew is popular, “We are Tamilian Brahmins, so you know coffee is our daily routine. I brew the concoction every morning and afternoon. My wife drinks coffee five times a day. I am glad that a lot of people on my street come to my home daily saying – Hey Laks, can I get a coffee. If they get it at Starbucks, definitely they will also go there. Right now, none of the aura of filter coffee matches anything at Starbucks. We hardly go there except when we travel as we have no choice,” says Lakshminarayanan.
He has some recommendations for getting it right: “With the amount of coffee Indians drink in the US, especially in the Bay Area, people here will love it if Starbucks introduces something, as long as it is similar to South Indian filter coffee.”
He pours in a few specifics, “Our coffee is a mix of more milk with a small bit of the brewed concoction, to be had in a limited quantity. They should come up with the best combination for filter coffee – not a typical latte or cappuccino – content wise, taste wise, and amount wise.”
'Naya CEO Kuch to Karega Hamare Liye'
Everyone has a moment they remember when they yearned for their favourite caffeine, only to be content with the options from a nearby American cafe. Sonia says, “When I am at a beach, amusement park, water rides, fairs, carnivals, all I really wish for is a cup of hot masala chai, especially in California where evenings get quite chilly even in summer.”
New Jersey-based legal industry professional Neha says, “On a gloomy snowy day, all you want is a nice cup of coffee to pep yourself up. But, in all my 14 years in USA, I have probably gone to Starbucks a handful of times. I am not going to pay upwards of $5 for a coffee that I don’t like! If they give me thela-wali-cutting chai or filter coffee, then I am definitely in!”
In acknowledgement of local taste preferences, Starbucks recently expanded their menu in India by adding Indian inspired eats, classic masala chai, elaichi chai, and South Indian filter coffee. Neha’s reaction to that is, “If Starbucks is wondering about including an Indian beverage, then they should introduce it at their Oak Tree Road café in Edison, New Jersey. It will be a big hit! Desis will get their brand fix as well cutting chai and filter coffee.”
She adds that there are ‘more than 800,000 desis’ in the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania tristate area, a number that ‘should be sufficient to influence’ the beverages selection at Starbucks.
American baristas’ mispronouncing names leads to many a laugh in the desi community. Indian American customers resort to simple, fall-back, American names especially for the purposes of ordering coffee. Vikram becomes Victor, Krishna become Chris, Suchitra becomes Jane, Kaushik becomes Jack.
They are not expecting any name literacy training for baristas. They know that no one is going to say ‘Guddu beta’ when their coffee is ready for pickup – as heard in the new Starbucks ad in India. They will be more than delighted to spell out their names or change them for the baristas, if Narasimhan can froth up some cutting chai and filter kaapi!
After all, local and seasonal flavours filtering into restaurant menus has taken off in the post-pandemic era, as big names from the food and beverage industry cook brand new offerings with local taste profiles in mind, to pour customers back in. Pawan says, “Naya CEO kuch to karega hamare liye (I am sure the new CEO will do something for us). Little Indian impact should be added. Cutting chai toh aana hi chahiye, especially as the Prime Minister of India was a chaiwallah!”
(Savita Patel is a San Francisco Bay Area-based journalist and producer. She reports on Indian diaspora, India-US ties, geopolitics, technology, public health, and environment. She tweets at @SsavitaPatel.)
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