This chai makes a change

Customers enjoy tea from the biscuit tea cup

The idea of cutting chai is almost as synonymous to Mumbai as vada pav is. But the glasses they are served in are not the most environmentally friendly material around. What's worse is that some stalls sell tea in disposable cups, which add to the monumental amount of waste that this city produces. But Ashutosh Mangal Motilal Choudhari has a solution. An engineer by profession, he has come up with a tea cup made of edible material that tastes like a biscuit, which you eat after consuming the beverage inside.

The idea struck him while travelling across Tamil Nadu, where he encountered a similar type of cup. "When I saw it, I thought to myself that there are thousands of chaiwallahs in Mumbai who sell tea in harmful paper cups. So, why not do something about it?" Choudhari tells us.

Ashutosh Motilal Choudhari holds up a cup. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

He adds that he thus paid '350 to order six sample cups, but three of them broke en route. "I then felt a bit of apprehension, because I thought that if I am to start a business, why choose a product that doesn't work?" Choudhari confesses. But he decided to go ahead anyway, and perfected a formula using wheat, vegetable oil, starch and three classic flavours - standard, cocoa, and cardamom. He has outsourced the manufacturing of the glasses, which last for 15 minutes, enough time to finish your cuppa in. And apart from the environmentally friendly aspect, it's the novelty factor that draws people in.

So, keep an eye out for him in front of the open gym in Dadar's Shivaji Park. Cutting chai from a glass is one thing. But tea served in a biscuit-like edible cup? Who can say no to that?

Cost Rs 15 per cup

Chai-biskoot combo

While on assignment, I noticed tea being sold at Shivaji Park, near the open-air gym. There was something different about Ashutosh's tea cups when I saw them from afar. I realised that though it looks like a cup, it's actually a biscuit. It's the first time I had seen anything like it in Mumbai. I thought it would melt while drinking the tea, but it was strong enough. I chose the elaichi flavour, which tasted good when I ate the cup. It was definitely an innovative idea, so I enjoyed it. Plus, it was sustainable.

Pradeep Dhivar, principal photographer, mid-day