Karak chai is a strong, sweet milk tea built on CTC black tea, evaporated milk, sugar and cardamom, boiled down to a dense, caramel-toned emulsion. The name comes from the Hindi word for strong, and the drink was born in the 1960s Gulf, where South Asian chaiwallas adapted masala chai to local supply chains.
Today karak is a category, not a curiosity: the unofficial national drink of Qatar, a daily drive-thru ritual across the UAE, and a fast-growing menu line in London, Toronto and New York. Qatar's tea market alone is compounding at 11.6% a year.
For operators the challenge is replication: authentic karak takes 15-20 minutes of attended boiling. A commercial karak base delivers the same profile in 30 seconds.
Read more: The Base commercial chai and karak base
Related terms: CTC Tea, Brix, Premix
Today karak is a category, not a curiosity: the unofficial national drink of Qatar, a daily drive-thru ritual across the UAE, and a fast-growing menu line in London, Toronto and New York. Qatar's tea market alone is compounding at 11.6% a year.
For operators the challenge is replication: authentic karak takes 15-20 minutes of attended boiling. A commercial karak base delivers the same profile in 30 seconds.
Read more: The Base commercial chai and karak base
Related terms: CTC Tea, Brix, Premix