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What is this iraqi chai

OK so the Iraqis, when they aren't doing anything else, will frequently gather and pack a bowl in a hookahs and put a teapot on to boil in these little stoves they all seem to have...

actually, every Iraqi seems to have a gas-powered little stove, a hookah, and a teapot with a few cups somewhere in their truck at all times

ANYWAY i sat down with some of these dudes and smoked their hookah and drank their tea with them and it was cool... they boil the water for a little bit and open up a tin and throw a few spoonfulls of tea into the pot... then a few minutes later pout it into little glass cups on top of a few spoonfulls of sugar (they use lots of sugar).
there doesn't seem to be any filtering out of the leaves, and i can kinda see them settling to the bottom of my glass...

ANYWAY i dont know anything about tea, when askd what it is im drinking they all just say 'is chai' or cant speak english...
*edit: Oh, and it is absolutely totally unrelated to what i used to think of as 'chai'... im pretty sure its just the word they use for 'tea'

so... anyone know what im drinking? BTW im not really a tea guy i'm just curious
 
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lol they really do put a crapload of sugar in there... enough to stand a spoon up. i've asked for less sugar and got quizzical stares, as if they were confused by the alien concept of less sugar. And Ive drank tea with alot of different people, they all seem to do it the same way, and serve it in a small clear cylinder glass, maybe 3-4 inches high, maybe 2 inches diameter... of course im going from memory here
 
"chai" literally means tea (also in Turkish - Çay)

Tea is called "Chai" in a lot of Middle eastern, South Asian and Chinese dialects where Tea drinking is very popular. Middle east also has "Kawa" which is tea like and which is what a lot of people huddled around Hukkahs have in the middle east.

If you think there is too much sugar in the middle eastern chai, you should have a masala chai from India. Spices like Cinnamon, Cardamon and some other exotic Indian spices with a lot more milk and sugar than the traditional English high tea !!
 
i guess what im wondering is, if after i get back to the USA and if i want to drink this same stuff again, what would i order... what it is called?
 
If I had to guess, chances are it is a black tea of some sort. Given the amount of sugar that they are using, when you get back to the states, you could get any black tea and throw a bucketload of sugar in there and I would defy you to tell the difference since the predominant taste is sugar water.
 
If I had to guess, chances are it is a black tea of some sort. Given the amount of sugar that they are using, when you get back to the states, you could get any black tea and throw a bucketload of sugar in there and I would defy you to tell the difference since the predominant taste is sugar water.

idk dude even with the sugar it is very bitter, in a good sort of way...
 
From what I remember from Iraq it is a black Cylon tea with just a load of sugar in it. You can get various teas from Teavana in bulk and several other teas as well.
 
I think it's the same general process as Indian chai except perhaps without the spices. Just buy a generic assam - you are loading it up with sugar so no need to waste your money on something complex and you need a bold black tea to stand up to the sugar.
 
idk dude even with the sugar it is very bitter, in a good sort of way...

That's the reason for the sugar. They are boiling the tea leaves instead of steeping them. That draws all of the bitterness out of the tea. Any culture I've come across where they boil the leaves always use a lot of sugar as well, and often milk or some other dairy product to smooth put the taste.
 
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