Every Saturday, Aliya Prasla’s alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. She rises and makes 6 to 8 gallons of chai. By 7:30 a.m. she’s out of the door and on her way to the Dallas Farmers Market to get ready for the 9 a.m. opening of chaiwali, her small business that sells authentic South Asian chai. Chaiwali translates to “woman who makes chai,” which makes perfect sense for the one-woman company.
Prasla, 32, was laid off early last year when the CEO at the small mortgage company where she worked retired. But she immediately knew what her next adventure would be. A few weeks later, she was on a plane to India to visit seven tea estates to find the perfect supplier for her new chai company.
For Prasla, a cup of chai is camaraderie. As a 7-year-old, she used to sit at the dining table with the adults, drinking chai in a small blue-and-white teacup. Her family would talk about struggles at work, stories of home in India, and what Prasla may have learned that day in second grade.
“I started testing recipes years ago, to figure out what spice blends I liked,” she says. “And then I just have worked on it and loved it so much that I started making chai for my family during Thanksgiving. That was my Thanksgiving job. I have always just had such a passion for it. It is just such a comfort drink for me.”
At chaiwali, customers can get a drink made with black tea leaves that come from an Indian-owned tea estate, with cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger. She also offers a dairy-free option made with oat milk. “I would describe the taste like Christmas,” Prasla says. “It is very comforting, warming, and it just makes you feel good when you drink it.”
“Flavor profile-wise, it is very good,” says Georgia Burgess, a chaiwali regular. “It’s very consistent, and I like that it doesn’t taste watered down. I feel like that’s a problem I have with a lot of teas. But this never disappoints.”
“It is the perfect amount of cardamom,” says Nikhil Kadu, an immigrant from India who has lived in Dallas for the last seven years. Prasla’s chai reminds him of what he had in his kitchen growing up.
“Back home, there’s always chai on the stove, no matter what time of the day,” Kadu says. “For Indian families, chai is more of an emotion. Everyone gets together to sit and talk. There’s one common thing that’s always there—chai.”
This story originally appeared in the November issue of D Magazine with the headline “Steeped in History.” Write to [email protected].
