THE PLACE: Kolkata Chai Co. seems to want to take the spicy, sweet black tea to the heights of the ever popular green tea matcha. This little café opened a few years back in the East Village and has slowly since expanded with small tea shops in a handful of NYC neighborhoods, including the one I popped into in the achingly hip Nolita.
THE MENU: Chai, of course, is the specialty here, in many forms (hot, iced, seasoned, flavored, and even decaf). There also are a few tempting Indian snacks, like samosas and paratha rolls. I’m not a huge tea fan, so what drew me in finally was an advertisement for chai soft serve. On a hot day, this was all I needed to see.
THE DISH: I quite like the flavor of chai and so I immediately fell in love with this Chai Soft Serve. This creamy refresher is actually made from oat milk, making it completely vegan. I’m finding myself really smitten with these vegan soft serve treats lately (I miss the now closed Urban Dessert Lab, but also have recently indulged in the vegan soft serve at Orchard Grocer and it’s mighty good!). The texture is unique and the oat milk adds a natural restrained sweetness. In this case, that plays nicely with the spicy, smoky flavors of chai masala. I have a feeling this is a seasonal offering, but I would be happy to eat it all year long.
| KOLKATA CHAI CO. |
| 60 Kenmare Street (between Mott and Mulberry Street), Nolita (646) 892-3970 |
| kolkatachai.co |
