SS Cafe

Tea stall · Brewing since 6 am

000

Boiling the waterPounding the ginger

01 — SS Cafe · Tea stall

Eleven minutes.Worth every sip.

Ginger pounded by hand, milk boiled up three times, poured from a height into a glass that costs you fifteen rupees.

02 — 6:40 am · The first pot

Ginger first.Always pounded.

Every spice goes into the water whole and bruised — never a powder, never a premix. Then two heaped spoons of strong Assam leaf.

  1. GingerPounded in the mortar, never powdered
  2. Green cardamomTwo pods, cracked open
  3. CloveJust the one — it's loud
  4. CinnamonA short stick, snapped in half
  5. Black pepperFour corns for the bite
  6. Assam CTCTwo heaped spoons, strong leaf

03 — The pull

Pulled froma height.

One long pull from pot to glass. It cools the chai just enough to drink and whips a froth on top — the taller the pull, the better the froth.

05 — Why it takes so longWhy does a ₹15 chaitake eleven minutes?

Because fresh ginger, green cardamom, full-cream milk and strong Assam leaf get boiled up times and pulled from a height — every single pot. We have stopped apologising.

07 — Play with your food

The dunktest.

Every biscuit has a number. Hold the button to dunk, let go before the chai wins.

0.0s
Glucose: aim for 3 seconds. Press and hold — or use the space bar.

Step inside — SS Cafe, the counter

Inside SS Cafe: warm pendant lights, shelves of jars, wooden tables and the glowing SS Cafe sign on the tiled counter

Inside — SS Cafe

Lights on at six.
Kettle on at 6:01.

  • Warm lights, cold mornings
  • A few tables, one long counter
  • 6 am – 11 pm, every day

08 — A day at the counter

A few tables,one long counter.

No bookings, no menu to study. Pull up a chair, nod at the counter, and a glass lands in front of you before you've finished saying “one cutting.”

  1. 05:30Milk arrives in steel cans. The ginger gets pounded.
  2. 06:00Shutter up. The first pot goes on the flame.
  3. 08:30Office rush — four hundred cuttings an hour.Rush
  4. 13:00Bun maska out of the oven, butter softening.
  5. 16:30The evening crowd. Samosas fry non-stop.Rush
  6. 23:00Last pour. The pots get scrubbed for tomorrow.
A glass of cutting chai with a samosa on a brown plate
4:30 pm — chai & samosa
A glass teapot and cup of golden black tea
Sulaimani, brewed light
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Cuttings poured a day

0min

Every single pot

0

Boils, never two

0hrs

Open, every day

Open daily · 6 am – 11 pm

09 — Come sit

The table's free.
The chai's on.

Bring someone you haven't seen in a while. Order two cuttings and a bun maska, and stay as long as the conversation does.

Find the stall
Find us
Shop 4, Station Road
Hours
Daily · 6 am – 11 pm
Seats
A few tables, one counter
A glass of cutting chai and a samosa on a brown plate
4:30 pm · every day
Golden black tea in a glass teapot and cup
Sulaimani, brewed light