Drink Me Chai

Drink Me Chai took the coffee-shop chai latte and made it something you can make properly at home in a minute. Amanda Hamilton founded it in 2004 after tasting chai in India, and developed the blend on Tuk Tuk tea bars at London stations before taking it to the supermarkets. It spotted the gap early: people liked the drink but had no realistic way to recreate it, because authentic masala chai brewed on the hob is a faff most mornings cannot accommodate. The answer was a powdered sachet carrying the masala spice character in a format needing only hot water or milk.

The range is built tightly around that idea: Spiced Chai as the everyday standard, the sweeter Vanilla as the coffee-shop favourite, Salted Caramel and Chocolate as indulgences, and a Dirty Chai with a coffee hit. It grew out of the Tuk Tuk tea bars before it reached the home shelf, which is why the powder is made to froth like the barista version and works with dairy or any plant milk. For our shelf Drink Me Chai is the honest answer to a specific customer: if someone has ordered a chai latte from a coffee shop and wants that exact cup at home without loose spices and a milk pan, this is it. It is not pretending to be authentic hob-brewed masala chai; it is competing with the cafe, and against the cafe cup it is faithful, fast and a fraction of the price.

Key facts