India's Case of Mistaken Chaidentity

Why Indian Filter Coffee never got the Starbucks Chai Latte treatment ...

I was drinking coffee recently and got very curious why coffee feels so much more “South Indian” while tea (chai) feels so much more North Indian. Something about the vibe of both drinks feels very melded with the regions I mentally associate them with. Maybe me being Indian has a lot to do with this niche feeling, but I spoke to a few friends and they too have this mental model of “coffee is to the South as tea is to the North”. Again, this is just pure vibes with no tangible explanation for why we feel this way1. Whatever it is, it took me down a crazy rabbithole on why these intuitions…

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• alana goyal

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