What is the secret ingredient that makes karak tea special?
Karak tea, made of tea leaves, milk, sugar and cardamom, is a favourite among residents
Every morning, a special aroma fills the air of countless cafes across the UAE – the unmistakable scent of freshly brewed karak tea. A beloved beverage of tea leaves simmered in milk with cardamom and sometimes, saffron, costing just Dh1 or Dh2 a cup.
Karak has woven itself into the fabric of daily life, from the bustling streets of Dubai to the quiet corners of Sharjah.
A favourite among Emiratis and expats alike in the UAE, for many it’s a daily morning ritual to stop at a cafeteria and order a cup of karak on their way to work.
“I tend to develop a headache if I don’t have a cup,” said Ananya Jayanth, a resident in Dubai.
The beverage has become popular in the Gulf region over the years due to the influence of expatriates from South Asia, often from India, who opened cafeterias that sold the hot beverage.
It isn’t just South Asian expatriates and locals who enjoy karak. Expatriates from across the world, who had their first cup of karak tea in the UAE, love it too.
“When I first moved to Dubai, I was feeling down because of circumstances, and a friend treated me to karak tea and samosas. I wasn’t a fan of samosas since I don’t like vegetables, but it was a big yes for karak chai (tea),” said Allaine Alves, a Filipino expatriate in Dubai.
“I’ve been craving it for a full year after I tasted it, and it’s an addiction that is not costly,” Alves added.
Another Filipino expatriate, Socelle Fuentes, recollected having her first cup of karak tea in Qatar at a restaurant. She brought the habit along, when she moved to Dubai. “When I lived in Al Rigga in 2018, I had karak tea there. I liked the idea that it has a lot of spice in it like cardamom. The noticeable difference among all the cafeterias is the ratio of milk, tea and sugar, and of course how strong the spices are,” she said.
But, did you know that your favourite cup of karak might have secret ingredients that you did not suspect?
When I first found out about a secret ingredient, I went around talking to different owners and employees from different cafeterias, but I quickly learned that none of them wanted to reveal it.
To my luck, a couple of employees were willing to give away the secret that made their karak tea special and different from a cup brewed at home.
One employee from a cafeteria in Al Nahda, Sharjah, revealed: “For tea without milk I add a little lime juice. And for a karak tea, besides the usual cardamom, I add either caramel or cashew powder to the tea, to give it a little different taste.”
Another cafeteria employee said: “I add glucose biscuit to the tea.”
I had initially thought that these were just rumours, until I tasted the karak tea. The tea with the cashew powder made the tea a lot creamier, a personal favourite, compared to the one with caramel powder, which tends to be a little too sweet.
However, it was the tea with the glucose biscuit that took the cup. I was ready to overlook my mild gluten intolerance for a second cup.
This karak reminded me of my childhood, which most South Asians would probably relate to, when I used to dip a glucose biscuit in a cup of hot tea that my parents were having, and ate it.
When Alves and Fuentes were informed of this secret ingredient, they were surprised. “Really? I had no idea,” they exclaimed.
But it is not just glucose biscuits or caramel powder that’s added to karak tea. In a Gulf News report from 2020, a vendor revealed he used a couple of Lotus Biscoff biscuits, to give the tea a different taste.
The popularity of karak tea in the UAE is so vast, you can find them from small cafeterias to big restaurants. This popularity has made the prices for a cup of karak tea range from Dh1 (in smaller cafeterias) to Dh30 or more (in bigger restaurants).