Chai vs Craft Coffee: What Priya Learned in Portland Cafés
In Mumbai, my morning chai came in a glass you could never put on Instagram, poured from a kettle that had outlived several prime ministers. In Portland, my first latte arrived in a ceramic cup with a leaf drawn in foam and the barista’s biography written in ink on their forearms. Both were warm. Only one came with cardamom and unsolicited life advice from the neighbor at the next table.
💡 QUICK INTEL
Axis: Indian chai culture vs West Coast craft coffee
Difference: Beverage as background fuel vs beverage as chosen ritual
Where to Feel It: Indian train stations and office corridors, Portland café rows
Language Note: In India, never say “chai tea” since that is just “tea tea”
Chai as background radiation in India
In India, chai is less a drink and more a service layer. It appears at doorways, in offices, on train platforms, in hair salons, at the mechanic. It is boiled with milk, sugar and sometimes spices until the line between liquid and comfort disappears. You do not usually “meet for chai” the way you meet for coffee in the U.S. Chai quietly powers whatever else is happening.
At home, families have their own formulas. Extra ginger in the monsoon, lighter on sugar for older relatives, strong enough to keep students awake during exam season. Street-side chaiwalas pour from a height that would make a safety inspector nervous, aerating the tea and cooling it slightly. You pay a few rupees, stand, sip and move on. Nobody asks your name or writes it wrong on a cup.
How craft coffee on the West Coast rewires the ritual
On the West Coast, coffee is a form of self-expression. Oat milk or whole, single-origin or house blend, pour-over, espresso, cold brew. Cafés act as public living rooms for freelancers, grad students and remote workers. You buy your seat by the cup, open your laptop and let other people’s deadlines hum around you.
For West Coast Indians, there is often a double life. Mornings might start with a quick stove-top chai at home, a compressed version of a childhood ritual. The rest of the day is paced by coffee shop loyalty cards and the search for an outlet near the window. When these same people visit India, the absence of laptop-friendly cafés in smaller cities can feel jarring. Meetings slide back into homes and restaurants, and the Wi-Fi situation becomes a group project.
What you miss if you treat one like the other
Western travelers sometimes chase “authentic chai” in India the way Indians in Portland hunt for the perfect espresso. But chai is not a specialty drink. Its power lies in the fact that almost everyone drinks roughly the same thing, often at the same times. It equalizes in a way that highly customized coffee orders rarely do.
Dismissing West Coast coffee as expensive caffeine misses the point too. Cafés here provide something Indian cities still lack in many areas: neutral, non-smoking, non-alcoholic third spaces with reliable bathrooms and Wi-Fi. They are less about what is in the cup and more about the right to sit.
“Chai taught me that hospitality can live inside one dented pot. Portland coffee taught me that sometimes the product you are buying is time, not beans.”
— Priya
The Verdict: There is no need to rank chai and craft coffee. Treat them as two cultural operating systems. In India, accept the endless refills as a sign that you are being folded into the day. On the West Coast, enjoy the luxury of a table that is yours for as long as your drink lasts.