Now, teatime in London features bun maska and kadak chai

Chai Guys bakehouse is a cafe on iconic Portabello Road, Notting Hill, which has recently gone viral for its chai and freshly-introduced bun maska, hitting more than a million views on Instagram.  

Romance in Notting Hill used to conjure up Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts: now it is kadak chai and bun maska.  

In 2018, straight out of university, Gabriel Unger and Abhilash Jobanputra started to travel around India in search of a masala chai recipe to introduce to London, where they live. Both have a sentimental connection to India: Gabriel lived in Delhi as a child and Abhilash’s grandparents who were from Gujarat, migrated to Tanzania. After trying numerous ‘chai lattes’, both agree on one thing, Abhilash says, “No one in London does chai proper.” 

Now, they do. The duo launched the ‘Chai Guys’ as a weekend market stall in London’s Brick Lane in May 2019, with masala chai, kadak chai, and a Kashmiri chai. They were so successful, they started a full-time location in Spitalfields three months later, and then opened in trendy Covent Garden in 2021. Their final, and most recent launch is a cafe on iconic Portabello Road, Notting Hill, which has recently gone viral for its chai and freshly-introduced bun maska, hitting more than a million views on Instagram.  

Discussing their research trips to India, Abhilash says, “Chai is a special drink. We understood that it was only right to go back to the source. So we went to Delhi and immersed ourselves in the culture.” While they were there, they also found tea suppliers from whom they sourced Assam black tea and Darjeeling green tea. Then, the duo started putting their recipes together, determined to give Londoners a taste of authentic Indian chai.  

“Chai lattes are a really poor representation of the real thing,” says Gabriel, adding “Nothing in central London focussed on chai in the way you have hundreds of coffee shops. There was clearly a gap in the market.” He adds that they wanted to create a “masala chai that knocks your socks off with spice — we wanted something that has a depth of flavour, and packs a punch. We put together cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, fennel... and found a perfect balance.” 

Determined to do it right, the Chai Guys decided to do everything from scratch, every single time. “When we started we would go to the weekend market with whole spices, a pestle and mortar. We would chop the ginger right there, and then start brewing the chai...” says Abhilash, adding “the scent would waft all around the market, and people started coming and ordering chai.” 

“It is important for us to brew this correctly,” says Gabriel, adding that the chai is always brewed slowly. “This gives the spices time to steep — for us it was about doing it correctly so we maximise the flavour from the spices. We do it in batches of 30 cups, and it takes 30 minutes each time.”