The Curious Case of Dirty Chai: How Dirty Is Too Dirty?

The other day, I found myself studying the menu at my usual coffee place. Not because I wanted something new, but because the list of beverages seemed to be growing longer and stranger. Somewhere between familiar options was a drink called dirty chai. That immediately caught my attention.

Curious, I asked the barista what dirty chai meant. The explanation came quickly, but not clearly. What I gathered was that it involved adding coffee to chai. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, chai simply means tea. So, when coffee is added to tea, it becomes dirty chai.

That raised more questions than it answered.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I ordered one. In my opinion, it was unpleasant. I could not clearly taste tea, and I could not clearly taste coffee either. What came through instead was a mix of sweetness and bitterness, along with spices that seemed to be doing their own thing. When I asked what went into it, the barista pointed to a container labeled chai powder. That was as far as the explanation went.

What really stayed with me was the word dirty. It is not a word normally associated with things we consume. Dirty clothes go in the wash. Dirty dishes go in the sink. Dirty water is something you actively avoid. Yet here we are, ordering dirty tea without hesitation.

If a bottle were labeled dirty water, no one would buy it. Yet dirty chai sounds trendy enough to have a dedicated following. I am not judging those who enjoy it. Taste is personal.

It just made me smile at how language works. Call something dirty in most situations and people stay away. Call a drink dirty, add a bit of mystery, and suddenly it becomes a menu highlight. Sometimes, marketing really is stronger than logic.

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