Take A Walk Down The Tea Trail in Chennai

In a state that is famous for filter kappi, one would think that a café that sells and serves tea exclusively would not work. And yet, it does more than work. It grabs you by the taste buds and takes you on a journey that you were not prepared for, but are more than happy to go on.

Welcome to Tea Trails, the first outlet of the brand in Chennai.

Opened earlier this year, Tea Trails is no stranger to the Indian market. They set up shop in Mumbai in 2013 and have since then opened nine outlets across the city. And now, they are finally in our fair and wonderful city of Chennai. Their one and only outlet in Ashok Nagar is on the main road, but tucked away from the hustle and bustle and noise that the thoroughfare brings to give you a nice and quiet experience when you’re sipping on your teas from India and around the world.

Whether you’re looking to drink light teas or dark teas or maybe even a cup of chai, this café has it for you. Now if you’re wondering what the difference between tea and chai is, we were wondering the same thing. “Teas are served without milk or sugar and are recommended to be drunk without either, but you are free to add sugar if you wish,” we were told, because the milk and sugar take away the essence of the tea, not really giving you much of the original flavour and taste. As for chai? “Chai is served in either glassware or earthen ware (Kullad especially) and usually with milk and sugar. The chai comes with milk and sugar on the side.” Much like the tea shops on the road, chai is for those who are not big fans of the specialty teas.

They have an extensive menu with various tea options for you to choose from. They offer their customers a chance to experience over 80 varieties of teas and 12 varieties of chai with various blends and added benefits, flavours range from White to Green Tea and Oolong to Herbal Tea. With each cup of tea, you’re given a tag that tells you how long your tea should brew for, what the benefits are and what it’s made of.  And for the experimental few, they’ve also got Bubble Tea and various Tea Mocktails, which are great for this weather.

We were served two teas and one of them was the South African Red Tea which isn’t made from tea leaves. It’s one of the many specialty teas on their menu and made from dried flowers, fruits and/or herbs, steeped in boiling water and then served without sugar or milk. They help shed weight, stave off colds and help with restful sleep amongst other great benefits. We also had a Jasmine Green Tea, which also has great benefits like prevention of clogged arteries. 

All great beverages come with great food. We had the Smoked Chicken Sandwich, which was a perfect balance to the teas. Not too heavy, but not lacking in anything either. Grilled to perfection, this sandwich is a must try for just about anyone.

The Marbled Egg Salad might be just the first of its kind for Chennai and maybe even India, because this salad did not only look really good, the eggs were infused with tea. When coddling the eggs, the tea is added to the process, so that every bite has a flavour of tea. And the tea is even used to give the egg the marbled look.

What Tea Trails is really proud of – and they should be! – is that they don’t use tea bags. All their teas are brewed fresh and kept in sealed packages that are opened only when they are serving the tea to their customers. You can also buy tea at the shop, in very neatly packed tins. And that’s not all. They’re going to be introducing something called the Tea Traveller. You can order it online on Zomato or Swiggy and you’ll get a neatly packed box that is filled with the chai of your choice. It will be mixed and ready to serve and each box gets you 4-5 cups of chai and it’s the perfect tea for office breaks.

Tea Trails is located at 49/24, Chandra Choodeshwar Building, 4th Avenue,Ashok Nagar.