The story of how single-serving Mullah's Special Chai ™ came to be
Making Mullah’s Special Chai available for single serving home use is a goal that Don Brown had set forth some time ago. Don had entertained the idea with several different friends, and in different forms. Production costs, untimely other events, or other snafus seemed to always curtail the development of the chai for home use.
Last year, shortly after Don Brown was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he began guiding us (Jeremy and Kristi) into the specifics of continuing the Teahouse business. After making Mullah’s Blend whole bean coffee and Mullah’s Turkish Blend whole bean coffee available for purchase to Teahouse customers, Don made it very clear that he wanted us to start focusing on also making Mullah’s Special Chai available for home use. This involved thoroughly knowing how the regular Mullah’s Chai is supposed to made (not too heavy on the ginger, or any other individual ingredient), and adapting that to a single serving size, and then having a practical way of delivering the chai to the customer. In times past, the idea of making large batches of Mullah’s Special Chai and bottling that had been proposed, but the costs involved in actualizing such an operation were substantial. The idea of making the chai into teabags was revisited, but had issues of it’s own, with all the steps involved, and how many teabags might be involved to replicate the taste that has become legendary at Mullah’s Teahouse. However, the teabag option seemed to be a practical way to legitimately reach the goal of making Mullah’s Special Chai available to customers in their own homes.
Finding proper teabags at an affordable price was the first step down that path, and this task was made easier by the vast resources available by the internet. A solution was found for a good price, and we now have large teabags (to accommodate all of the ingredients, and allow for mug or small pot brewing from one bag) that are unbleached, biodegradable, and taste-neutral (made from wood and hemp fibers). The next step was deciding how the bags should close—staple? Glue? Loose fold? Tying? To keep the product as pure to taste and as natural as possible (yet not an unruly mess), we decided (with Don’s input) on the tying method with kitchen string.
Next came the recipe adjusting, taste testing, and procedure testing, always adjusting this amount or that amount, trying to replicate the taste of a traditional batch of Mullah’s Chai. At first we achieved this with two separate tea bags, one of which was tied, and leaving the other untied with one of the dry ingredients inside—waiting for the customer to add the fresh ginger, and then tie it off themselves. After receiving our packaging material, and seeing how few teabags would actually fit into a bag this way—along with having no practical way of keeping the second bag from spilling in transit—we went back to the “drawing board” to adjust the procedure to include all of the dry ingredients in one bag that would be tied off for the customer. Luckily this only took a few more trials and tests, and resulted in the final form that is now being sold. There is still a second teabag to be utilized with each serving, but it is delivered empty, for the addition of only fresh ginger, and then fold the flap inside. Upon final taste tests, the teabag version was indistinguishable from the traditionally made Mullah’s Special Chai.
Just as it seems that the product is ready to go, a label still needed finalizing, along with a directions label for the back. Luckily this only took a few days work, then it was on to bagging all that chai to accommodate the launch of online sales. That’s where most of the work comes in, as each bag is individually mixed and tied off in a properly sanitary fashion.
We are now very happy to announce to all that single serving Mullah’s Special Chai for home use is now available for online purchase to customers throughout the United States. The final packages are re-sealable bags holding 6 teabags of dry ingredients and 6 empty teabags for adding fresh ginger. We are also providing the option of purchasing fresh ginger root online along with a chai order.
A small brown tin-tie bag of Mullah’s Special Chai teabags will be available for purchase at our Dickens Fair coffeehouse (“Mr. Brown’s Fine Coffee and Teas”), and at the coffeehouse at “Mullah’s Presents: The Golden Toad Music and Dance Camp” (currently the only public music and dance camp to have a Mullah’s coffeehouse).
Please try Mullah’s Special Chai for yourself, we think you’ll find that the final product will satisfy your chai cravings, and even drum up some memories of times past at the Mullah’s Teahouse.
~Jeremy and Kristi McMaster
Teahouse of the Mullah Nasrudin’s Donkey, LLC