Cutting Chai Recipe: Mumbai-Style Strong Sweet Half-Glass Tea

Cutting chai is the Mumbai chai-stall classic – small glasses of strong, sweet, frothy black tea boiled hard. The cutting chai recipe below is the authentic Bombay technique: vigorous boil, generous sugar, served in half-glass portions because anything bigger would be too much.

The name cutting chai comes from the fact that a full glass is cut into two half-portions – chai sellers traditionally split one full cup into two small glasses to serve two customers cheaper. The cutting chai tradition is uniquely Bombay, and the technique has spread across India as the city has.

What makes cutting chai different from regular chai

Cutting chai is not just smaller-portion chai – it is a different technique. Regular adrak chai uses 1:1 water to milk. Cutting chai uses 2:1 water to milk, making it stronger and more bitter, which is balanced by extra sugar. Cutting chai is also boiled longer and harder, so the tea leaves release maximum colour and bitterness. The result is a chai that is intense in a small glass, not delicate in a big mug.

Cutting Chai

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Authentic Mumbai cutting chai – strong, sweet, frothy black tea boiled hard with milk and served in small glass tumblers. The street-stall classic.

• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 2 1x

Ingredients

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• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup full-fat milk
• 2 tsp loose black tea leaves (CTC Assam dust)
• 2 tsp sugar (cutting chai is meant to be sweet)
• 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, crushed (optional)
• 2 green cardamom pods, crushed (optional)

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Instructions

1. Boil water. In a small saucepan, bring water to a rolling boil with the crushed ginger and cardamom.
2. Add tea. Add tea leaves and boil for 2-3 minutes until the water turns deep brown-red.
3. Add milk and sugar. Pour in milk and add sugar. Bring to a vigorous boil. Reduce flame and let it boil for 2 more minutes – the chai should froth up high before subsiding (the cutting chai signature).
4. Strain into small glasses. Strain through a fine tea strainer into two small glass tumblers (not full mugs – cutting chai is served in 100-120 ml portions). Serve immediately, very hot.

Notes

Cutting chai is meant to be served in small glass tumblers, not mugs. The portion is intentionally small – 100-120 ml – because it is strong and sweet enough that you do not want a full mug.

• Author: ManVsDrinks
• Prep Time: 2 minutes
• Cook Time: 8 minutes
• Category: Tea
• Method: Boiling
• Cuisine: Indian

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 small glass
• Calories: 55

Pro tips for proper cutting chai

• Use CTC tea dust. Bombay chaiwalas use the cheapest CTC dust – it releases colour and bitterness fast. Premium tea leaves are wrong here.
• Boil hard. Cutting chai needs a vigorous rolling boil, not a simmer.
• Let it froth up high. The chai should rise dramatically when milk is added before subsiding. That is the cutting chai signature.
• Serve in small glasses. 100-120 ml is the cutting chai portion. Full mugs ruin the experience.
• Pair with Parle-G or khari biscuit. The traditional accompaniment.

Cutting chai variations

• Adrak Cutting Chai: double the ginger for the morning version.
• Masala Cutting Chai: add cloves, black pepper, and cinnamon for the spiced version.
• Plain Cutting Chai: skip the ginger and cardamom entirely – the absolute minimum Bombay stall version.
• Sulemani Cutting: the black tea cutting (no milk) – South Indian Muslim variation.

Common cutting chai mistakes

• Using premium tea leaves. CTC dust is the right choice – cheaper, stronger.
• Boiling gently. Cutting chai needs a vigorous boil.
• Big mugs. Defeats the entire point – cutting chai is meant to be small.
• Too much milk. 2:1 water to milk is the cutting chai ratio.
• Skipping the sugar. Cutting chai is meant to be sweet.

More chai recipes

For more chai try our Adrak Chai, Masala Chai, Tandoori Chai, Karak Chai, or Tulsi Mulethi Chai.

Why cutting chai belongs in every Indian kitchen

This cutting chai recipe is the Mumbai street-stall classic translated to a home kitchen. Read about the cutting chai tradition to understand how Bombay chaiwalas turned a small-portion economy into a national style. A proper cutting chai costs 5 rupees on the street, takes 10 minutes at home, and delivers more chai-satisfaction per millilitre than any full-glass version. Make this cutting chai once and you understand Mumbai.