In the beleaguered region of Kashmir, high in the Himalayas, people drink a unique green tea that’s a fairly bright pink. Kashmiri chai contains tea, salt, baking soda, spices, and milk, and is often served topped with crushed nuts. There’s nothing pink in that ingredient list, but the particular way it is made caused it to turn pink. It’s an acquired taste.
Charles von Hügel, an Austrian explorer who wrote an extensive account of his travels in Kashmir during the 1830s, was one of the first westerners to give the world his unvarnished opinion of pink tea. “The taste is like that of a strong soup made out of scorched flour,” he wrote. Even Kashmiris acknowledge that salty tea is an acquired taste. Journalist Scaachi Koul joked that the tea is “one of our worst culinary contributions to the world and we should be ashamed.”
However, the recipe changes at lower altitudes, and the Kashmiri chai offered at your local cafe contains little to no salt. Read about this unique tea and how it gets that pink color at Atlas Obscura.
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Source: neatorama