Delhiwale: Noon for morning

Noon chai, a unique Kashmiri tea, is rare in Delhi, mainly found in Matia Mahal Bazar during winter. Its salty, pink flavor offers a distinct taste.

It is high time to re-engage with the noon chai. To start with, the noon of noon chai must not be confused with the English word noon (as in afternoon). That said, noon chai is unique, and is exclusively identified with Kashmir. So much so that the tea is not commonly sighted in Delhi. But every winter, it briefly surfaces in parts of the Walled City.

The young tea man was silently preparing a new round of chai. (Mayank Austen Soofi)

The fleeting phenomenon of noon chai in Delhi is primarily centred around the tea stalls of Matia Mahal Bazar. The congested area is crammed with very many budget hotels and guest houses, where visitors from Kashmir tend to stay for the duration of winter. During the coldest months of December and January, scores of makeshift chai stalls along the main market street here then serve not only the regular chai, but also the noon chai. The principal patrons for the latter tea being the people from Kashmir. Some of the stalls in fact brew the tea in lovely looking samovars, instead of the conventional pans and kettles (see photo).

Noon for morning

The noon chai is identifiable by its pink colour. On a recently morning in Matia Mahal, a tea stall man explains that the chai acquires its distinctive colour by the addition of bicarbonate of soda. Whatever, it is safe to say that noon chai is an acquired taste. In a city like Delhi, where the tea stalls mostly serve sugary chai, noon stands out for being salty. Indeed, as it turns out, the word “noon” (some spell it as ‘nun”) is the Kashmiri term for “salt.” Late Old Delhi poet Ameer Dehlavi, who was married to a Kashmiri woman, once made a confession to this reporter: “I like everything about Kashmir, but the noon chai has not yet won my heart.”

Another cold morning in a Matia Mahal tea stall, some weeks ago, a man from Kashmir was partaking the pink chai, along with a roti called lavasa. He stated that the noon chai was the taste of his Kashmir; and that it is usually consumed with the roti he was holding. Meanwhile, at the stall, the young tea man was silently preparing a new round of chai, his entire visage hidden behind the steam oozing out from the pan. See photo.

As for you, dear reader, if you wish to try the noon chai, try to reach Matia Mahal Bazar early in the morning. Most pavement tea stalls that serve noon chai wind down their operations as soon as the market gets busier.

However, there is a spot in Old Delhi where every night a stall with a rickety table is set up on the busy pave by a Kashmiri gentleman. The makeshift establishment doesn’t serve noon chai; it instead offers something equally interesting—a range of Kashmiri kahwa chai. But that is a story for another day.