Bhopal : Madhukar Malhotra (33) is an engineer by training and a postgraduate in science from Australia, with specialisation in cloud computing. The son of a wealthy real estate businessman, he teaches engineering graduates in CRISP. He is also a chai wallah.
‘One day my friend and I were having tea at roadside stall and were appalled by the poor hygiene. The way the tea was prepared and served was really horrible. And then and there we decided to open a tea shop’. He vehemently denies that he was inspired by our ex-chai wallah Prime Minister.
The concept took some time to develop and then ‘Chai 34’ came into existence.
Located in the city’s commercial district MP Nagar, the outlet is very popular among youngsters, especially students due to the unique taste of tea served there and the excellent hygiene.
Madhukar Malhotra |
It serves as many as 20 varieties of tea including adraki, badi elaichi, chhoti elaichi, laung, zabardast kulhad, tulsi, tulsi adrak, adraki elaichi, masala chai, tusli elaichi dalchini elachi, chai 34 special, clear green, lemon honey, black shots et al .
And a visit to the place will not make a big hole in your pocket. The price range is from Rs 20 to Rs 40 per kulhad – the traditional clay pot in which tea is served in the restaurant. Maggie in different flavours and burgers are also on offer. Smoking is strictly prohibited – so much so that you cannot even take a matchbox inside.
Malhotra said ‘We fetch FDA-approved liquid flavours for tea from USA. We also use some local ingredients like tulsi, adrak (ginder), elaichi, dalchini etc. We had to wait for three years to get good response. Thinks take time to work out. Now, we sell 300 to 400 kulhads a day. We are now even planning to open outlets at other places in the city on franchisee basis.’
