It’s that season again! (Give or take a year until the actual election.)
Tonight marks the second Republican debate, so we recommend you
throw on your “Make American Great Again” caps and pop open a
few cold ones. With this game, by the end of the night we’ll have you
seriously considering Trump as a candidate.
2B
THE LIST
TAKE A GULP
Whenever Jeb Bush plays down his family history.
GO SIP FOR SIP
With Marco Rubio and his infamous mini-water bottle.
TAKE A SHOT
When Hillary Clinton’s name is spoken in vain. (Read: when
it’s spoken at all.)
BUZZFEED, BUT BETTER
DRINKING GAME FOR THE
REPUBLICAN DEBATE
TAKE A SIP
For every red necktie gracing the neck of a candidate — in
Carly Fiorina’s case an American flag pin will do.
FINISH YOUR DRINK
When Donald Trump offends anyone in any capacity.
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Wednesday, September 16, 2015 // The Statement
T
here is no drink called
a
“chai
tea
latte.”
I’m sorry, but it just
doesn’t exist in the same way
that Hallmark Holidays don’t
exist. A “chai tea latte” is the
Grandfather’s Day of coffee
shop drinks — neither of them
is actually real and is made to
sound more exotic or genuine
to siphon more money out of
you.
Every time someone in
front of me at the Starbucks
line — or the Panera line, or
the Espresso Royale line for
that matter — orders a “chai
tea latte,” a little part of me
dies. The name sounds quite a
bit silly when you realize that,
when translated from Hindi, it
actually means “tea tea latte.”
You’re ordering a “tea tea
latte” and it makes absolutely
no sense.
My particular gripe with
modern coffee retailers is
interesting: I drink coffee
like it’s water. And I’m not
talking about some diluted,
cinnamon-spiced
mocha-
frapped nonsense. I mean
dark-roasted, pitch-black cof-
fee. It doesn’t matter if it’s the
crappy, generic office-brand or
imported, hand-roasted Bra-
zilian beans from the depths of
the Amazon. If it tastes bitter
and keeps me up, I will drink it.
That sounds terrifyingly
unhealthy and a little bit crazy,
and I should definitely work on
weaning myself off of caffeine,
I know.
Based on what you know
about my coffee addiction, I
really shouldn’t care too much
about what a “chai tea latte”
is or why it’s popular or why
it has become such a staple on
coffee shop menus in the past
few years.
But here’s the thing: I
inherited the caffeine addic-
tion from my dad, because the
first thing he drinks before
he leaves for work is the chai
my mom makes for him every
morning. He’ll always bee-
line to pull out his mug and
takes out a sieve that perfectly
fits his mug from the cabinet
beneath the stove, to filter out
the leaves when he pours his
tea into the cup.
My dad can’t get through
his day without drinking chai.
When we went to India about
five or six years ago as a fam-
ily, the first thing he bought
to bring back with him was
a Costco-sized container of
Wagh Bakri, a very strong
brand of chai.
He kept sniffing the lid
and saying, “Smell the chai,
Tanya.” It was weird, yes, but
I’ve grown up seeing that every
morning while getting ready
to go to elementary school,
middle school and high school.
Just as my dad watched his
own father do the same thing
his whole life, and my grandfa-
ther watched his father before
him, and so on.
Chai is deeply ingrained in
Indian social culture.
The
tagline
for
Wagh
Bakri is roughly translated to
“warmth of relationships.” It’s
plastered on all of their bill-
boards and a recurring theme
in their television commer-
cials. The first thing my grand-
mother, aunts, and uncles
in India offer guests to their
homes is not coffee, or water.
It’s chai.
Author
Divya
Prakash
Dubey, in another rough trans-
lation from Hindi, writes in,
Masala Chai, his short story
collection, “chai is basically
like another form of social
networking.” It builds con-
nections and relationships; it
acts as a source of comfort and
warmth.
Chai is rooted in Indian cul-
ture in the same way coffee is
distinctly an American habit.
That’s why I can’t help but get
annoyed when coffee shops
advertise chai with a com-
pletely inaccurate term in an
attempt to sound exotic.
Chai should remain a menu
item in coffee shops. But it
shouldn’t be referred to as a
“chai tea latte.” I admit that in
the larger scheme of cultural
appropriation crimes com-
mitted by the western world, a
“chai tea latte” is hardly press-
ing. But it’s still important.
My Cultural Currency: Chai Tea Latte
B Y TA N YA M A D H A N I
SCHLISS ON GREEK LIFE
ON THE
RECORD
“(Our reputation’s) not gonna be the kids who receive the
Rhodes Scholarships and the Fulbright Scholarships, and
the famous professors who do the work that you’re going
to get reflected on for, or the National Medal for the Arts
that our faculty won this past week. It’s going to be the
‘Shmacked’ videos. ”
–PRESIDENT MARK SCHLISSEL in an address to the Greek life
community at Hill Auditorium this past Thursday
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SAM MOUSIGAN/DAILY